The Unstoppable Kids
by FluffyDoom27
Summary: Conan's life seems to be surrounded by endless murder cases that are really starting to get to him. Heists start to become his escape. KaiCo/KaiShin.
1. Deal

**So this is a story that I'm pretty excited to write right now. My intent is for it to be fairly long. In the anime, KID has known Conan's identity as Shinichi for a while(as of the third movie), in the manga however, he never found out. I'm going to be going by a mix of the non-canon anime heists as well as the manga and accepted canon ones. In this story KID does not know that Conan and Shinichi are one and the same. All the heists that have happened so far both canon and non-canon have happened in this fanfiction, but since KID did not know Conan was Shinichi, some of them happened slightly differently.**

 **This chapter has a lot packed into it, I do hope you enjoy it anyways. It's more of an introductory chapter so the pacing will jump from place to place. I skipped most of the scenes that didn't have to do with setting up the story or KID and Conan's growing affinity for each other so yeah. Next chapter will introduce a steady daily life pace. I started this chapter at 3 in the morning, I'm in too deep.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own DCMK.**  
 **Genres: Romance, crime, hurt/comfort, supernatural, friendship.**  
 **Warnings: DCMK SPOILERS throughout story. Future KaiShin/KaiCo. Murder cases. This is going to be a long one…**

* * *

The wind rushed through the chilly night basking the city of Beika with another thin sheet of snow. A young boy lay still in his bed, under his blanket and sheets, not noticing the outside cold under the warmth of his blanket. Today…there had been two murder cases… Over such ridiculous things too. Conan opened his slightly puffed eyes, hidden away from the rest of the world. Hidden from even the other occupant of this very room, his childhood friend, Ran.

Just a year ago, she had been annoyed with him, or rather her own childhood friend, 'Shinichi' for being so desensitized to the cases surrounding him. At the time, he had told her that you get used to it. These things just happen, and all you can do is your best to put the culprits who committed the crimes behind bars so that they couldn't do it again. In the hopes that they would use the time spent in there to learn from their mistakes. Sometimes though…enough was just that…enough.

Conan was so tired of everything. All the grief, the misunderstandings, the stabbings, the gunshots, the poison, the pushes, the threats, the suspicion, the greed, the irony, the motives, the loss. He was exhausted. Why had he ever wanted to be a detective? Now all he wanted for it was to stop. He used to think that stumbling into cases showed just how much potential he had to be a detective. That the latent ability to be near cases was just part of the makings of a great detective. All the Night Baron and Sherlock Holmes stories he'd read as a kid romanticized the idea. His quick thinking and deductive capabilities, as well as the rush that came along with solving a tricky mystery, helped nail in the dream of becoming a true detective. He was already famous before he finished high school with all the cases he'd solved.

Ran had called him horrible… That he could care so little about someone's death after it had happened. She had said that she didn't think she'd ever not cry at something so sad. And here they were, over a year later. The desensitized detective, unable to sleep because he was just so done with all the tragic cases that always happened around him. The crybaby best friend, sleeping peacefully after witnessing two gruesome murders. Not that he could blame her, she had seen so many by now, they were practically a daily occurrence. Even the Detective Boys were used to it by now. They didn't even question when a dead body showed up anymore, on the contrary, they would quickly get out some gloves and start collecting evidence. Taking pictures with their cells and looking for hints as to the hows and whys of the body's position. He felt sick, he was the one who taught them that.

Most kids were excited for the weekend. School was over, they could play outside with their friends, go to the park, visit another town, stay indoors and play video games—or just take a much needed break. Conan didn't have that option. If he went outside, he would run into a case. If he stayed at the agency, a case would come to him. Statistically, the amount of cases around him was outrageous, theoretically impossible. He was beyond worn down. All he wanted to do was sleep. To get away from the nasty cases and nightmares associated with them. To take a break for once since the start of his goddamn detective career. It almost made him wish the whole world would just end already. If all that there was to the world was hate and revenge, then what was the point in even protecting it?

Conan forced his eyes back shut. No, he couldn't let himself think like that. He had to go to sleep before any other toxic thoughts clouded his mind.

* * *

Conan yawned loudly, hiding it behind his hand as he looked at the food in front of him. An egg, toast, and a cup of juice were laid out neatly in front of him. He started munching on the toast, mind invaded by his late night thoughts from mere hours ago. It was a little later into the morning than he would wake up on school days, but still fairly early for the weekend. Okino Yoko had an early live performance this morning that Kogoro wouldn't miss for all the booze in the world. And with Kogoro getting up early, Ran decided to get up early with him to make breakfast and enjoy the morning. Since Ran had gotten up early…it was only natural the boy she roomed with would be woken by the noise.

A boy who had gotten very little sleep, he might add. The noises of Ran scolding her dad, and Kogoro goofing off and yelling at the TV while drinking his first can of beer of the day became background noise as Conan shuffled through his thoughts. It would be nice if he could just go back to bed. Cases never seemed to happen when he was asleep. He knew that things like that had to be coincidental, at the same time, however, when you started to be able to predict things based on merely how often they occurred—it became hard to ignore the patterns surrounding him. _'Eh?'_ Conan blinked at the screen, Okino Yoko's performance had just cut to commercial. The TV was showing a Kaitou KID heist notice. The reporter was talking about how the police had received the note a few days ago, and were still no closer to solving it. The set time seemed to be tonight.

 _At midnight four days from now,  
I will meet with the crimson goddess,  
to steal her precious ring._

 _-KID_

Conan frowned, it seemed pretty straightforward as far as heist notices went. The crimson goddess could be referring to a goddess of war, death, deceit, or love. The ring could easily be a marital one. A ring with a jewel on it that wasn't all that well known, it had to be something either hidden from the public, or just overlooked. If he's talking about meeting with a goddess, the location would have to be either a place of worship, or a place with connections to deities or the afterlife. A simple solution to this would be either a graveyard, or a shrine of some sort.

Conan would like to think that KID had enough tact not to steal from inside a crypt, but a certain egg related heist reminded him otherwise. Still, it was more likely that he was referring to a shrine. Probably a shrine with a history of bloodshed, if he was to consider in the traits of the goddess worshipped. He pulled his smartphone out of his pocket, quickly scrolling through nearby shrine listings. He read through them, singling out those with criminal pasts and goddesses. He eventually narrowed it down to a small temple in the next town over. There was a shrine in the back holding what was said to be the ring of a wicked goddess who brought about her only death and destruction. The ring had been displayed years ago, but after an attempted robbery, the temple moved it into storage. It was said that it was still on the temple grounds. Conan ate the rest of his food quickly before heading over to Ran.

"Ne, Ran-neechan?" He prompted.

Ran turned to him curiously, "What is it Conan-kun?"

"Can I spend the night at the Professor's house tonight? Can I, can I please?" Conan tugged at her shirt sleeve, whining like a kid.

"I suppose you can, just remember to go to bed early and bring a spare set of clothes." She reminded him, not really bothered with the idea.

"I will, thanks!" He ran off to get his stuff. He wanted to head over there early so that he had time to look around the shrine and find where the ring was kept. It was still morning and he was tired, but it had been a while since he had last gone to a heist, and he was excited to try to outwit KID again. The temple he had chosen was short, the only way KID could escape would be by disguising himself as another person, but if the only one at the scene was a child… Conan smirked, KID wouldn't be getting away so easily this time. Ironically, it was advantageous that the police hadn't deciphered the notice. If they had, KID would be able to use them as his means of escape.

Conan hurried off to the Professor's and asked him to drive him to the temple. Once there, he discovered that the ring was kept in a safe behind the inner offering box. He then looked around at the rest of the temple, still no signs of the police. There were a few people praying and some shrine workers there, but nothing out of the ordinary. He had asked the head priest to show him the ring earlier and watched him press the numbers in. He and the Professor stayed at a distance after that, waiting for night to come. As more and more people left the temple, Conan snuck in. He quickly pressed the numbers, opening the safe. He looked at his watch, 11:50PM. Just ten minutes left…He let out a breath of air, before getting in the safe and shutting it. The biggest pro of being so small was that he could fit in places where he would be the least expected.

Conan had to bend down to fit in, but there was still enough room for him to wriggle around. He shifted so that he was directly facing the door, and opened his watch to point at it. 11:52PM. He steadied his breathing as best he could, silencing himself as to not make any noise indicating life or movement. All that was left now was to wait. 11:53PM. 11:54PM. 11:55PM. 11:56PM. 11:57PM. 11:58PM. 11:59PM.

"Three…" His breath caught when he heard the magician's voice. "Two…One…!" 12:00AM. He heard a quiet tap of a foot touching the ground, most likely landing from an overhead entry. He could practically see KID grinning at his surroundings, "They really didn't figure the note out did they?" He heard KID mumbling to himself, "I didn't think it was _that_ difficult." KID laughed a little, and Conan realized that he was spraying something on the safe. "Too easy, too easy." Conan couldn't wait to see his face when he opened up the safe to find him in there.

KID started punching in the code, and Conan looked clearly through the target markings on his watch, ready to take shot. The door swung open and he immediately pressed the button on the side of his watch, releasing the needle.

"Woah!" KID's eyes widened at him, instantaneously rolling to the side at seeing his aimed watch, "C-Chibitantei?!"

Conan crawled out of the safe, aiming another needle, "In the flesh." He released it, this one KID dodged with superb skill, and Conan's watch was unfortunately already out of needles.

KID grinned, bowing down, "How nice of you to come to my show tonight."

"What show?" Conan taunted, "There's no one here to watch."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. There's an audience of one." He tilted his hat, pigeons swarming out of it. Two of them landed on Conan's shoulders, weighing them down. By the time he could see through the feathers and birds, KID was already at the entrance, ring in hand.

"Too bad, you were pretty close with that first shot. See you around, Meitantei." KID turned abruptly, causing his cape to flutter in the air.

Conan ran to catch up with him, slowed by the birds, "Wait!" He peered forward, barely able to make out KID mixing in with the white of the snow around them.

"Hm?" KID paused.

As Conan went forward, KID always seemed to be the same distance away, "When will your next heist be?"

KID blinked, before putting a hand to his mouth in good humor, "Well I guess I can tell you. As a reward for being the only one to figure out my riddle. I do make them to be solvable you know. Next Wednesday I'm planning to take a very pretty brooch that's flying in. I'm going to be sending out the notice tomorrow. I do hope to see you there."

"Wouldn't miss it." Conan said, wanting to say something witty in response but too busy trying to figure out how he could stop KID from leaving tonight.

KID chuckled, and with a snap of his fingers, he was gone, his pigeons flying after him. Conan sighed, upset at having barely put up a fight. Then again, KID had probably come prepared for the whole task force to show up, so it was an acceptable loss. The short lived rush of excitement was dwindling away as he walked back to the Professor's car. He hadn't had fun like that in a while. There was a sense of dread filling his stomach about going home, however. The fact that there wasn't a case all day today…meant that he was more than likely to run into one tomorrow.

* * *

True to his word, KID sent out another heist notice the following day. He added a teasing remark about them never figuring out his last notice as well, and claimed that this was all the taskforce was with Hakuba on vacation. Well, that wasn't _exactly_ what he had said, but he had strongly indicated the lack of solving the riddle being due to a lack of a certain foreign detective. Conan immediately got to work solving the new heist notice, it was even simpler than the last one, probably to make sure that people could figure it out. KID loved large audiences after all.

After Conan solved the note, the agency's phone rang and Conan knew that it was another case. Any comfort or satisfaction he had felt moments before from solving the notice so quickly was gone.

Time went by, and Conan became increasingly more involved in catching KID. The news reporters were getting a kick at the KID Killer back in action and going strong. Each heist got him closer and closer to catching KID, and he knew that KID was starting to worry about him. There were countless murder cases throughout Conan's days between the heists, but somehow whenever he was at one, they didn't happen.

He had started to become a little obsessive, spending all of his free time solving heist notices, and looking at blueprints of where KID had sent notices for. The end of winter had passed into the start of spring, and Conan's friends were starting to worry about him. Conan got closer and closer to catching KID, and eventually, he did. He felt lost when it happened, his only escape would be gone. The addicting adrenaline rush that came from the battle between their minds would be over. And the pure-hearted thief would spend the rest of his days in prison, or worse.

Conan stared from his hiding place, watching as KID's expression went from surprised at being caught off guard, to terrified at having been trapped. When KID crawled into a vent, Conan had melded the entrance that he had used and cooled it. Earlier, he had melded a thick sheet of metal a few meters into the vent as well. Effectively trapping both KID and blocking off the flow of air conditioning. KID kicked at the sides frantically, before stopping at the loud sound. He cursed quietly to himself.

"It's no use. The only way out is to melt the metal around you." Conan spoke up, making the thief still at the voice, there wasn't enough room in the vent to turn around to face him.

"Chibitantei, huh?" KID let out a humorless chuckle, "Of course, who else could it have been…?" Conan lowered his head, staying silent at the frantic tone.

"Do you really hate me that much?" KID asked quietly.

Conan lifted his head, "What?" No, he didn't hate KID at all, in fact it was more the opposite.

KID frowned, squirming around the vent to face him, somehow being able to make the limited amount of space work for him, he was staring directly at Conan now. "Why do you want me caught so badly? You've been chasing me relentlessly for the past 2 months."

Conan looked away, unable to look him in the eyes. The triumph of victory being washed out by the guilt settling in his stomach. For all of the heist planning he had never really thought about what he would do if he had caught him. Instead of answering him, he sat down, leaning his head against the wall below the vent. "What are you looking for, KID?"

"Does it really matter? There's no way for me to get out of here, you said it yourself." KID pushed idly on the vent, knowing that it wasn't going to open so easily, but not about to just not try. "I won't be finding anything behind bars." He got out a lighter and a flask of alcohol, the only things on him that might have a chance of helping him from his current predicament. If he did anything with them though, he would get some major burns and still might not be able to get out. The flames wouldn't be precise enough to not hurt him, and not hot enough to weld through the metal quick enough to get out safely.

"Just answer the question." Conan said.

KID didn't say anything for the next few minutes, but Conan knew that he was thinking about his question. "I'm looking for Pandora."

"Pandora?" Conan questioned, "Is that the name of a gem?"

"Yeah, some bad people are after it and I can't let them get it. Pandora's what I'm looking for, but you know, it's not the only reason I'm KID the Phantom Thief." Conan held onto the note of sadness in his voice. He stayed silent, letting him continue. "I'm also Kaitou KID because I want to avenge my father." Conan had suspected something along those lines. "But neither of those are the main reason that I'm KID. I'm KID because…it's fun. It's fun to plan a heist, it's fun to wow an audience, it's fun to run into challenges-like you." He added offhandedly. "When I had started, all I wanted to do was find out what happened to my father, but it's different now."

Conan took it in, listening to every word. "I think you might be the only person in existence who thinks it's fun to rush straight into the places where you're in the most danger."

KID shrugged, "Well, this talk would be a lot more fun if I didn't know where it was going to end."

"Heh. You act as if you won't switch places with the first cop who handcuffs you." Conan snorted.

"Ah, figured me out already?" KID shifted uncomfortably in the vent. "Is that why you haven't called the task force yet?"

"I just wanted to talk for a bit first." Conan got up, dusting off his pants, he looked at KID through the small gaps. "The only way we could really guarantee you staying caught is if we cut this part of the wall out and take you to a prison cell like that."

KID paled, "Oi, you're not really going to do that right?"

"No." Conan got out his wielding pen, a recent invention of the Professor's. "Back up a bit." He started to burn through the edges of the vent, and KID complied. Conan took the vent cover off, tossing it to the side.

"W-what are you…?" KID started, unable to fully comprehend the situation.

"Letting you go." Conan sighed, "Now hurry up before I change my mind." KID didn't waste another second, he landed silently on the ground outside of the vent, before turning to Conan.

He took his hat off and held it in front of him, bowing. "Thank you…" There was a heavy implied weight of gratitude behind the action.

"Don't thank me, idiot." Conan huffed, he had just helped a thief get away, what kind of detective was he?

KID laughed at him, wholehearted cheer, "No, really. Thank you, Tantei-kun." He bent down and ruffled Conan's hair, causing Conan to back away, embarrassed. KID smiled warmly, "I won't forget this. It means a lot."

Conan sighed as the magician took off. He watched his back as he ran forward, no magic tricks. Just him. He wondered if this was part of the magician's gratitude in and of itself. Leave it to him to help his escape from cases escape from him. As much as Conan would deny ever having helped the thief to anyone else, the thanks he had received felt really good. _''It means a lot', huh?'_ Conan repeated the words in his head. There was something about the way that KID had said it that made it feel as if he had done the right thing in letting him go. After today, Conan couldn't even try to pretend he wasn't a KID fan anymore.

* * *

Conan doesn't go to the next few heists. He can't because he knows that he wouldn't be able to resist helping KID instead of trying to catch him. He had never had to worry about something like that before. Detectives were always supposed to catch the bad guys. It was pretty rare he found himself rooting for one. Aside from Moriarty and Lupin, anyway.

No longer with a break from the cases and murder that surrounded his life, he was getting increasingly worn. Everything was exhausting. One day, the agency's phone rang. Conan had expected it to be another case, only this time it was different. The police were calling for the famous Sleeping Kogoro's help deciphering a particularly hard heist notice from one Kaitou KID. The police seemed to be confused because the notice seemed to imply that KID was targeting rubies from a large portion Japan. Conan listened in to the call, writing down the notice on a piece of paper.

 _The elderly noble the heat seeks,  
takes rubies everywhere, East Tokyo._

 _What 'I' seek is that of wounded pride,  
a samurai's shame, a midnight defeat.  
On the 6_ _th_ _of April, I shall retrieve the gems._

 _-KID_

Conan pushed his glasses up absentmindedly. The 6th was two days from now… _'East of Tokyo? On the East side of Tokyo, or in cities East of Tokyo? And why had he worded it like that? It would have made more sense to put 'in East Tokyo' or 'takes rubies of East Tokyo' or even 'takes rubies to the East of Tokyo.''_ Conan put a hand to his chin. And why had he wrote them in two separate parts? It's not hot yet, it was still spring, so the word 'heat' in the first part also stood out. 'Heat' could refer to a gun, and the seeking part could refer to a bullet. But in the second part it said 'samurai's shame' which implied there being a sword. Heat seeking could also mean that the target couldn't be missed, or that the attack would have followed the target wherever it went until it hit.

He ignored the second part to focus on the first for now. The wording in the first really stood out for some reason. It just didn't click like KID's normal notices did. There was some kind of wordplay there. He tried a few letter tricks before landing on just taking the first letter of each word. "Tenth Street, huh?" Conan mumbled to himself. There were countless tenth streets East of Tokyo. So he decided to start with the East side of Tokyo, hoping for a hit. Since Beika was in the East side of Tokyo, he started there just since he was the most familiar with it. He scrolled through his phone for jeweled weapon displays on Tenth Street in Beika. He found one from a few months ago. An old dojo had displayed the gun and sword used by ancient war heroes. A war general and his advisor.

The sheaths both held large rubies in them and the same intricate patterns, having been made by the same weapon smith. The advisor followed the noble general everywhere, always having his back. When the advisor realized the only way to end the war was for the general to die, he shot him in the back. They had been fighting for years and years, their hairs long turned gray. After the general had passed, the advisor committed senppuku with the general's katana to atone for the sins of killing his best friend.

The meaning behind the heat seeking in the first part was referring to both the fact that a gun was used to kill him as well as the person who used it had always followed him around and that the death was unavoidable. The 'samurai's shame' part referred to the honorable suicide bushido warriors often used to atone for unforgivable actions. Conan couldn't believe how lucky it had been that he had found the location so quickly. 'Tenth Street, East Tokyo' was so vague…

"Huh?" Kogoro growled into the phone, making Conan look up at him curiously, "What do you mean the notice was written on a page from 'The Raven'? Are you sure this isn't a copycat?"

 _'The Raven…? The one written by Edgar Allen Poe…?'_ Conan blinked, the name that Edogawa Ranpo got his penname from. This…this notice was targeted at him…? Did KID know where his name came from? No, it was just a way to call out to Edogawa Conan, he was inviting him to the heist. He had no doubt that it was the real KID who had sent the notice. It made sense now that he had thought about it. Written on a page from 'The Raven', taking place in Beika, it was more than a little targeted. In fact, the only way to find the location with such small hints would be if you had an eye on Beika anyway. The only people who would were people living there. Conan sighed, _'I'm sorry, I can't come, KID.'_

"Arere?" Conan said putting the paper he wrote the notice over on top of Kogoro's desk to point it out.

"Hmmm? What is it brat, I'm on a phone call." Kogoro griped.

"But isn't the wording strange at the start? See look here… if you take the first letter of each word like this…" Conan wrote the letters atop the words, "Then it becomes 'Tenth Street'."

Kogoro scowled at him, "That's just a coincidence, brat."

"Ne, don't we live in East Tokyo?" Conan added cutely, making Kogoro blink.

Kogoro grabbed the notice away from Conan's hands. "What are you…Ah! Inspector Nakamori, I believe the heist in going to be on Tenth Street in Beika! I haven't figured out exactly where yet, but he's clearly challenging me, the Great Detective Mouri Kogoro! AhahaHAHA!" He laughed moronically.

Conan sighed, Nakamori was probably skeptical on the other line. This would take just a little more pushing…

* * *

It was now April 6th and after Conan had guided the two idiots through every part of the notice, the task force finally knew where the heist would take place. Ran and Kogoro had both gone to the heist since Kogoro insisted that the notice had been targeted at him. Conan had declined in favor of staying home. He told Ran he was tired and wanted to go to bed early since the heist started at midnight, he used the late start as an excuse not to go.

He _had_ been invited though, so he decided the least he could do was watch the live broadcasting. He jumped up on the couch and turned on the TV, getting comfortable.

As soon as midnight hit, there were giant smoke clouds appearing all over the dojo on screen. KID made a grand appearance, standing on top of the dojo, he walked above the audience. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen!" He said proudly in English. "I have a special show for you all tonight. I'm quite impressed that you managed to find me. And without further ado…Let the show begin!"

As the words left his mouth, he fell directly into the crowd, causing the audience to gasp and spread out frantically, unable to locate the thief. The flowers around the garden started to dance in the wind as sparkles flew up into the sky. KID reappeared at the front, handing many of the female audience members—as well as Inspector Nakamori—lit sparklers. The sparklers started burning and as they got to the end, rose petals flew out. Nakamori's had a "I Love KID!' flag pop out of his, making him throw it to the ground angrily.

Conan unconsciously moved closer to the screen, eyes widening as he searched for the keys to the tricks. His mouth was curving up in awe as the camera looked at a close up of one of the sparkler-flowers.

He found himself reaching towards the TV screen, "Wow…"

"It's cooler in person, you know." Conan froze in shock at the voice. He turned slowly, the magician in front of him's smile was bittersweet.

"KID…" Conan turned between him and the TV, not bothering to ask how he could be two places at once. He had a partner after all.

"Why didn't you come tonight? I would like to think that you know it was you I was inviting and not the Sleeping Detective." KID frowned at him. "Especially if you were going to watch from home anyway, why not just go?"

Conan blushes lightly, looking anywhere but at KID. "It's not that I didn't want to go...It's just that...I don't go to heists to catch you." KID hummed in acknowledgement, pushing him to continue, unsurprised. If Conan's goal was to catch him then he would have tried as soon as he realized the international thief was in his house. Or, even before that, he wouldn't have let him get away that time a few heists ago.

"I go for the same reason you do. They're fun. I honestly enjoy them, a bit too much. My life is always surrounded by cases, and your heists are a nice break from thinking about the crueler criminals that I see almost every day." Conan frowned. "As for the reason that I'm not going anymore… Well, you saw me last time. I caught you, you were stuck, and there wasn't an easy way out of that for you. But instead of making sure you couldn't get away, I…I let you go."

Conan gulped uncomfortably, baring his soul. "You always return the gems. You don't kill or let anyone get hurt. Hell, you'll risk yourself to help others. You're a criminal icon, but you never do anything bad. You do stupid tricks to cheer people up. Sometimes you do things so amazing that I almost forget there's a trick behind your magic." KID is listening intently, face red. He's getting one of the biggest compliments of his life. Conan continued, "A detective's job is to stop crime, put criminals behind bars, regardless of their intent. I…when I go to your heists, all I want to do is to help you. So…well, I stopped going."

KID hid his face under his hat, his monocle gleaming, stunned into silence. Conan lifted his arm to grab at his other, nervous about the blunt confession.

"I…" KID started, voice high, "I have to go, I'm sorry, I'll be back."

"Wait, KID!" Conan reached out to stop him helplessly. He was already out the window, no doubt heading back to the heist. Conan cursed silently to himself. It wasn't like him to be so honest. Well, KID had said he'd be back. All that he could do now was wait. He sat back at the couch, still slightly embarrassed at being caught looking so intently at the tricks on the screen. He grabbed a pillow, hugging it between his hands childishly.

Conan stared at the screen until he noticed KID appearing again about 20 minutes later, this time with the sheathes of the gun and sword in hand. He was incredibly fast. "I have someone waiting for me so I really must be going now, see you next illusion!" The audience whined, not wanting the show to end so fast. After KID had left, the news reporter switched over to doing an interview with Mouri Kogoro. She asked him how he felt to be challenged to such a special heist. Conan turned the power off.

He was still hugging the pillow when KID came back a little bit later. KID chuckled at him.

"W-what?" Conan asked.

"Sometimes I forget that you're in grade school. Then you do stuff like this." KID grinned.

Conan set the pillow to the side, "I don't see what that has to do with my age, really."

"Oh?" KID quirked a brow in amusement, dropping the subject at that in favor of taking out the sheath and holster. He held them up for Conan to see, "So what do you think?"

"What do I think? KID, you just brought stolen goods to my house. Other than that, not much." He sighed.

KID frowned, "I thought I'd show my biggest fan tonight's prize. Guess you don't really care much for an old sheath and holster. Even if they have rubies in them."

Conan scoffed at 'biggest fan', if he had to give that title to anyone that he knew personally, it would probably be Sonoko. "What prize? We both know that you're going to return them."

KID sat down, holding them up to the moonlight. "Yeah, turns out neither are Pandora. I still count them as prizes, though. For a day or two at least! Sometimes I hold onto them for weeks."

"Why are you telling me this?" Conan prompted. KID was being really open all of a sudden, not that he minded, he was just curious.

KID grinned broadly, "It's not like you want to catch me right? And I'm not telling you anything dangerous or risky for you to know. Besides, you shared with me first." While it was true, Conan didn't feel entirely comfortable having the thief casually hanging out in the living room when the Mouris were probably starting to head back from the heist. Then again, knowing Kogoro, he could very well be showing off for the TV still.

As if having read his mind, KID got up and patted his pants. "I guess I should be going right about now, I don't know when the other occupants of the house will arrive. And hey, you're a pretty cool kid, you know that?"

Conan smirked, unable to stop himself from retorting, "You're a pretty cool KID yourself, 1412."

KID grinned broadly, "You think? Oh, I almost forgot." KID flicked his hand, a sparkler appearing.

"For you." KID handed Conan the sparkler, lighting it, Conan took it in his hand. He watched as it burned down, going from tall to short as the sparkles popped off from it. He smiled looking closely at it, waiting for the petals to appear. Instead of mere rose petals, however, a whole hydrangea appeared in his hand.

"I don't recall ever being able to understand you." Conan twirled the cluster in his hand by the thin stem, thinking back to the meaning of the flower in his hand. Gratitude for being understood.

KID shrugged, "I feel like you do." They could hear people walking up the stairs and KID tucked out the window, turning back, "See you, Meitantei."

"S-" Conan began, stuttering, "See you." It was weird to say such a casual goodbye to him. It made him feel like he would see the other soon. He let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding and hid the flower behind his back. He went to hurry to his and Ran's room, but it was too late. The front door opened up and Ran came inside.

"Ah! Conan-kun, what are you doing up?" Ran bent down to him, "I thought you were tired, it's not good to stay up when you're sleepy, you might get a cold."

"I was thirsty so I came down to get a cup of water. I'm fine now though, Ran-neechan." Conan smiled, "I think I'm going to go back to bed." He headed upstairs and quickly hid the flower under his bed, before going to sleep.

* * *

A week later, Conan heard a tap on his window. He went over to it, curious, and almost fell back when he saw KID smiling brightly from the other side. He opened it, letting him in.

"Ran and the old man are downstairs." Conan said.

"Yeah, thanks." KID patted him on his head, making him feel embarrassed.

Conan looked up at him, "If you already knew, then why are you thanking me?"

"Just because." KID sat down, humming a tune happily.

"Why are you here?" Conan sat down on his bed. Responding with the same casual air that the thief was talking to him with.

KID grinned, fishing something out of his pocket, "To show you this." He held out a large sapphire, it glistened majestically, "Pretty, isn't it?"

Conan got up and went over to his window, quickly shutting his blinds and turning back to the thief in question, "Idiot, why'd you bring that here?"

"Did you think I would be wearing KID clothes if I hadn't just returned from a heist…?" KID asked.

"Just answer the question." Conan frowned.

KID twirled the sapphire in the air in front of him. "Because you weren't at the heist." He had said it as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world.

Conan sighed, going back to sit on his bed again before looking down at the sapphire mystically hovering through the air. "You're right."

"Hm?" KID tilted his head.

"It is pretty." Conan stuck his hand out, thinking about touching it, before deciding not to.

"Isn't it?" KID grinned happily.

Conan retracted his hand. "How can you always be so happy? Don't you ever get tired?"

"Fairly often, like most humans I would assume." KID said. "You?"

"Get tired?" Conan snorted at him. "All the time." KID looked at him curiously, so Conan clarified. "Cases are exhausting. Pretending is exhausting. Hiding is exhausting. Filters are exhausting."

"I see." KID sighed, "That does sound tiring."

Shaking his head, Conan apologized, "Sorry, you come over and all I do is complain about things."

"You can complain to me any time." He pocketed the sapphire, "Really, I don't mind. See you, Meitantei."

Conan blinked, "Eh? You're leaving already?"

KID nodded, putting a finger to his mouth and pointing at the door. Footsteps were getting closer and Conan mouthed a silent 'See you.' as the thief left.

* * *

The next time he saw the thief, he was visiting his old library. Subaru had gone on a short vacation so he had the house to himself for a few days. He was tiptoeing to get a book that was just barely out of his reach, when a hand from behind had grabbed the book for him. Conan, being able to sense the thief's presence just before he had reached out, turned around to look at him. KID was smiling as he held the book out for him.

Conan took it, "Thanks…."

"No problem~" KID smiled, taking out a flute with a large emerald embedded on the side, "Cool right?"

Conan huffed, "Yeah, it's pretty cool. I hear that if you blow through those, they'll make noise."

He snickered at the blank look KID gave him at that and KID clarified, "I meant the emerald."

"Well, obviously." Conan's eyebrows rose and a grin was starting to make its way onto his face, enjoying getting a rise out of the thief.

KID saw that he was just teasing him and let out a sigh, "What are you doing here anyway? Isn't this that missing detective's house?"

Conan nodded, "It's Shinichi-niichan's, but he's letting someone else stay here for now. They both said I could come in here." He wondered if KID would be suspicious of him addressing Shinichi as 'niichan' when he always addresses others without an honorific around him. It felt too weird to call himself 'Shinichi' as a separate person though.

"Hmmmmm." KID looked through the books curiously. "That reminds me, I heard the two of you were related. It makes sense, you look similar and are both really good detectives. Must be from all these mystery novels you read."

"Yeah…" He stared, KID had just complimented him twice without realizing it. He felt kind of weird about that.

"What's he like?" KID sat in an armchair, inquiring.

Conan blinked, how did one describe themselves? "Well he's a famous detective. He's a big fan of Sherlock. He likes the color blue…"

KID rose an eyebrow at the generic response, making Conan nervous. "I mean, he's pretty interesting…?"

He felt that he didn't deserve the laugh that KID made after he said that. _'You try describing your own real identity, see if you can laugh then.'_ Conan sulked to himself. He decided he would get back at him a bit. "He had said that he went to one of your heists before."

"He told you about that, did he?" KID put a hand to his chin, "That was a pretty fun heist."

"Yeah." He answered the first question while silently agreeing to the second. "He told me that he didn't even know your name until at least a year later."

"W-what?!" KID's eyes widened, "There's no way, I mean—I was still famous, even back then! Everyone knows of the great Kaitou KID."

Conan felt a little bad now but still found the situation hilarious. He really hadn't known the name of the thief back then, he happened to be passing by and wondered what the crowd around the clock tower was for. It was completely coincidental that he had had the chance to try to stop him. It was also one of the first times he had felt any kind of respect for a criminal. "Well he didn't know your name, but he said you were stealing the clock-tower to protect it. Shinichi-niichan told me that it was his first time finding a thief who would do such selfless things like that."

"…" KID leaned back in the armchair he was in. "I hadn't realized anyone knew about that."

KID smiled at Conan, "You two really are related."

"H-huh?" Conan scratched the back of his head, nervously, "Why?"

"Because you're the sharpest detectives I've ever met." KID stated calmly. Conan's heart rate picked up, _'What the hell?'_ He had said that so casually too! He could feel his cheeks warming up.

"Speaking of…" KID began, a big grin forming on his face, "Do you want to plan a heist with me?"

" _Hah_..?" Conan couldn't believe his ears, "You're joking, right?"

KID frowned, "No, I'm serious." He got up from his chair, picking up the book Conan had set to the side earlier. It was one of the Night Baron books Shinichi's father had written. "C'mon, you and me, we'd be unstoppable."

"I thought you liked challenges." Conan said.

"Of course, obstacles are tools that make you better yourself." KID smiled, "But I think that working with you would be really fun too. The stage is half of a show, and haven't you ever wanted to see behind the curtains? It's completely optional of course, and you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Conan sighed, KID seemed way too excited for this. He couldn't believe the ridiculousness of the situation. Still, it did sound fun. "What do I get out of this?"

"Hmmm…" KID frowned, considering, "I'll tell you my first name…?"

A grin spread out over Conan's face, "Deal."

* * *

 **There's so much that happened in this chapter. Before I started writing this, I was planning to write everything out with so much more detail and in a bunch of chapters. It will still be fairly long, it will just have a lot more KID and Conan/Shinichi interaction now. I'm glad I did it this way. Thanks for reading. See you, next heist.**


	2. Kid Jr

**The characters in Detective Conan are all just really amazing. I wake up wanting to write about them, it's weird. Thanks for voting for this story in the poll. I know it only got two votes before I took it down and started writing it, but it made me really happy. I started writing the first chapter as soon as I realized that someone else would be interested in reading it. I have so much planned out for this story, I hope that readers will enjoy the twists as much as I do. I will also have you know that I've been writing this chapter almost non-stop since I posted the last chapter. I really wanted to finish and post it tonight.  
**

* * *

KID smirked at the answer. He had really hoped Conan would agree. If he was being honest, he would say that the reason that he had invited Conan to help plan a heist with him was because he wanted to show him just how much fun heists could be. The little detective had said that he had fun at them, but what if he could have a hand in orchestrating them? KID wanted to see what kind of show Conan would be able to cohost. Of course, it would be the kid's first show, so he knew he couldn't expect too much. Still, whenever he put Chibitantei up to a task, he had always somehow managed to exceed his expectations.

"So," KID began, "Since it's your first time planning a heist, I'll leave it up to you to decide which gem to steal." He took out some photos to show him. There was a big diamond belt buckle, a set of garnet earrings, and a gold topaz necklace.

KID sure cut to the chase fast enough. Conan frowned, putting a hand to his chin, the necklace seemed familiar. "I don't really have a particular interest in gems, I'm more interested in the locations—where are they all being kept?"

"The belt is on a wall at a national level boxing center. It's going to be a prize for a tournament coming up in a few weeks." KID began, pointing at the pictures of each as he talked about them. "The earrings are going to be put on display next week at Bell Tree Tower, and the necklace was given to the Young Miss Suzuki by a suitor. Much to the annoyance of her fiancée, I might add."

"Eh?" Conan blinked, "Sonoko?" He sighed, so _that_ was why it seemed familiar. Now that he thought about it, he remembered Sonoko bragging about it a few weeks ago, "I'd really rather not have to deal with her uncle taking a heist notice as a challenge. His security has many holes, but it's always extreme. If you tell me how to tell if a gem is Pandora or not, I can probably just check it out on my own. If it ends up a hit, you can always send a heist notice and steal it later."

KID looked at him with interest, "Could you really do that?"

Conan shrugged back, "Probably."

"If you look at Pandora under the moonlight, the inside should glow red." KID offered the information. "I don't know much about its appearance other than that, unfortunately."

"Red…" Conan put a hand to his chin, there were a few gemstones that would glow other colors in certain lighting. While he knew that under normal situations topazes didn't glow red, he also knew that KID was looking for a unique jewel. "That shouldn't be too hard to notice. I should know by tomorrow night."

He turned back to look at the other two pictures. "There's still some time before the belt will be given away, so you could do that one later. If I had to choose one of them, I'd say we try for the earrings. We're both familiar with Bell Tree Tower, and it's has tons of floors to hide on. Not to mention it'd be easy to escape from the sky or to a nearby building. If worse comes to worse, you can always just hide on one of the floors until you have a chance to sneak out."

"Hmm. You ever consider switching careers? You'd make a great thief." KID observed.

Conan snorted, "Only if you become a detective."

"Touché." KID didn't think he'd ever want to do something as boring as that. Too much paperwork, responsibility, and waiting involved. Not to mention that most of the detectives he knew were stiffs. The exception in front of him seemed to be thinking deeply about something. He looked dispirited, contrary to his earlier sarcastic retort.

"Yen for your thoughts?" KID asked, making a 10 Yen coin appear in front of Conan.

Conan looked up at him, "It's nothing."

KID hummed, disbelieving. "I said you could complain to me. I won't tell anyone, thief's honor."

"No, it's really nothing." Conan smiled sadly at him, "I appreciate the sentiment."

KID decided that he didn't like being thanked like that. It made him feel useless, he wanted to hear about his problems. Maybe that way he could help somehow. What cruelties had the kid gone through to be so mature for his age? The little detective always seemed to have bad stuff going on in his life. He wished he could shield him from them somehow. Of course, that was impractical thinking. The boy lived at a detective agency. What could he even try to do?

"So, where are the earrings going to be displayed?" Conan prompted, going back to the earlier conversation.

KID laid down lazily, taking out blueprints of the tower. He pointed near the top, "At the observation deck, there's going to be a storytelling of how the gems came to be cursed. Apparently, anyone who wears the earrings is surrounded by death, because of this, the garnets are nick named Death Harbingers."

Conan frowned, "Have people actually been dying around them?"

KID shook his head. "Other than the guy who had them forged over two centuries ago? No." He always targeted big jewels or jewels that had mystical rumors surrounding them. The reason was because those were the gems most likely to be Pandora. He hadn't expected Conan to consider in the realities of a curse. He was probably just trying to figure out the whole story behind them. KID took out his smartphone to look up the meeting, having already configured it to hide any personal information.

"There's going to be a photo shoot. Maybe we can photobomb." Kid pointed out an article on his phone.

Conan quirked a brow, sitting down by his side, glancing at the screen. "I wouldn't risk it. No matter how well disguised you are, there's always a chance that something in the shot could lead to you getting caught."

"I guess you're right." KID mused, thinking that Conan sounded like he was speaking from experience. He watched as Conan inspected the blueprints, looking from one part to another.

Conan pointed at the top of the blueprints, "We could set up a decoy KID up here, having it go off right after you grab the earrings. If there aren't helicopters around the tower, then we can disable the elevators, forcing the others to take the stairs. While they're doing that, then you can just slip out the top and escape with a large head start time wise."

"Hmmm." KID listened, letting Conan take the wheels. "And if there are helicopters?"

"If there are helicopters, then you can slip into the crowd of onlookers or task force members and escape by foot. If they think about checking the people there to make sure that you really did go through the roof, then you can just gas the room and head down. If they have gas masks, then you can put on a gas mask and blend in with the task force members without worrying about them checking your face. If they don't have gas masks, then you can just head down by yourself anyway, since the force will be unconscious. Of course, we won't ever know what will happen for certain until it happens." Conan finished.

He had been pretty thorough for the short amount of time he had been looking at the prints. The boy was practical, he'd give him that. KID pointed at the bottom. "There are a couple ways I can disable the elevators, I can cut off the entire building's power which would be good camouflage as well, or I could just cut the circuits of each elevator." He stated, before grinning widely, "But, wouldn't it be funnier if we disabled all but the main elevator and then wait for Inspector Nakamori to get in the elevator to head down? And then just press all the buttons? I could wave as the door shuts and _then_ fly off the roof. The look on his face would be priceless!"

Conan quirked a brow, amused. "No wonder he hates you so much."

"Are you kidding? He dedicates his life to me. He loves me." KID laughed. "We could also put paint and glitter bombs in the elevator they're in. Just think about the aesthetic."

"You're insane." Conan remarked, though there was no bite behind his words.

"I try." It was really nice having a second mind to bounce ideas off of, even if the heist in question wasn't the most complex in the world. They still didn't know how the police would react to a new heist notice, so there was always the possibility of added security measures. They could figure that out later.

KID was just thinking about how he could convince Conan to participate in the heist too, when his keen ears heard a door being shut nearby. It sounded like it came from the Mouri's and KID nearly groaned in response. Conan looked up at him curiously. KID sighed, "I'll be right back." Conan nodded, letting him go. When the thief came back, the doorbell was ringing.

"Conan-kun?" Ran's voice came through. "Are you still here?"

Conan blinked, before looking at the thief, "What'd you do?"

"I locked the door." KID said calmly. Conan's eyes widened before bursting out laughing at his petty antics.

He clutched his little stomach, gasping for breath. "S-sorry. See you tomorrow? Same time, same place?"

KID smiled back, "Of course." Personally, while he knew there wasn't really any gain in having locked the door, he felt that it properly conveyed his annoyance at once again being interrupted.

Conan started heading for the front door, knowing that the thief and any evidence of him having been here would be long gone by the time he opened it.

"Conan-kun, is that you?" Ran asked.

Conan unlocked and opened the door. "Yeah."

"Why was the door locked? Didn't you come to get a book?" Conan realized he forgot to bring the Night Baron book down with him.

He put his shoes on before heading out of the house. "I decided to read it here. I'm going to come back to read more tomorrow. By the way, Ran-neechan…"

"Hmm?" She looked over at him curiously.

"Can you ask Sonoko-neechan if I can see her new necklace? The pretty yellow one."

* * *

The next day Conan found himself heading to his old house again. The police were stewing over a new heist notice they had received, and he had just gotten the necklace from Sonoko after telling her he had read about a charm that he wanted to try out with it. She agreed, but only because she was bored of it after having it for a few weeks. He wondered how much more she would like it if she found out that her precious 'KID-sama' wanted to see it. He was also a little disappointed that he hadn't gotten to work on a riddle for the notice with KID. The note had been straightforward, probably because KID knew he wouldn't be there to help the police solve it.

He entered the building, heading straight to the library. As he reached it, he saw KID coming in through the window. The thief had probably waited until he had gotten there.

"You could have waited in here you know." Conan climbed up one of the armchairs, once upright, his legs dangled off the side.

KID shrugged, "I don't know how comfortable the owner would be with a thief alone in his house."

"But two thieves seems perfectly reasonable?" Conan asked, knowing that KID would get a kick out of him calling himself a thief. KID smiled, taking his hat off and pulling cloth out of it. When it was completely out, Conan recognized it as KID's uniform, only smaller…much smaller…

"I am _not_ wearing that." Conan deadpanned, immediately rejecting the idea.

KID frowned, "But I haven't said anything yet."

"You didn't have to." Conan glanced the outfit over. It looked incredibly well made. "Besides, I wear glasses, how am I supposed to wear a monocle?"

KID grinned, "I was thinking contacts. If you got color prescription contacts, then you'd instantly look like a different person! I don't know what your prescription is, otherwise I would already have some contacts ready."

"It's okay." Conan said, getting up from the chair. He took off his glasses and he headed towards the outfit. If the thief had put so much thought into it, the least that had could do was wear it. "I can see pretty well without them."

KID handed him the outfit, happy that he seemed to be willing to try to wear it at least. "Are you sure? I don't want to make your eyes strain."

"Yeah. I'm good." Conan pulled the shirt over his head, shoving his arms through the sleeves. He put the pants on over his shorts, and snapped the little cape onto his shoulders. He then put the shoes, gloves, monocle, and hat on. "This is surprisingly comfortable." He noted all the hidden inner pockets with interest. It was strange how the outfit didn't feel hot to wear.

"Right? You look great." KID complimented. "Though without your glasses, you seriously look like a mini version of me."

Conan rolled his eyes, taking the hat, monocle, gloves and shoes off and setting them to the side. KID picked up his glasses and put them back on him for him. "Thanks."

"So what do you think?" The thief asked, excited.

Conan exhaled, considering, "It's okay."

"Okay enough to wear to a heist maybe?" KID pushed.

Conan pursed his lips together. He might not get another chance for something like this. And it's not like he wasn't considering going, it's just that he didn't want to be found guilty in a court of law and all that. As long as he was careful and stayed near KID, he would probably be fine. "I guess just once would be fine."

"Yes!" KID bounced up, "I should probably warn you that a troublesome acquaintance of mine is going to be showing up. Hakuba's arriving right after the day I put in the notice, so we should be fine, since she'll be by herself."

"An acquaintance? How troublesome?" Conan asked, not seeming to be all that bothered by the news. He didn't fail to note that the thief knew Hakuba's vacation schedule. Whether that was from his own personal knowledge of the detective, or simply something that he looked up for this particular heist, he didn't know.

KID let out a sigh, "She reminds me of a snake just slithering around you in circles. She's scary but actually pretty harmless. All she does is watch mostly. She still freaks me out a bit."

The analogy just made Conan more curious. Someone who scared the Kaitou KID? He wondered what she was like.

"Meitantei, do you believe in magic?" KID asked, seemingly out of nowhere, but with a somewhat serious tone.

The tone might have been the reason he answered a seemingly trick question earnestly. "I didn't use to."

"But you do now?" KID finished the implication.

"…" Conan looked down at his shrunken hands. Science had made him small. Nimble fingers and wit let KID perform his tricks. While gravity made things fall, things with low densities could fly. None of these things were magic. From a stranger's point of view, he had no reason to believe in magic. Even his own mind had denied even considering such a thing for so long. Still, recently, he had begun to suspect some sort of outside influence on his life. Without a better word for it, he guessed that 'magic' was the closest thing that he could call it. "I've… I've seen a lot of things…" He looked at his hands, picturing blood stains on them. "I wouldn't say I believe in magic, but I've been looking for an explanation behind something for a long time. Something that's so improbable, people would call it impossible. There has to be a reason that something impossible can be happening, right? So maybe another impossibility is the cause."

The thief thought that sounded very reasonable. The only magic KID had ever seen was directly from Akako. Conan seemed to have a different kind of experience with it. He cleared his throat. "She can use magic."

Conan put a hand to his chin. "I…see."

"You don't seem all that surprised." KID quirked a brow. "Or do you not believe me?"

"No. I do." Conan shook his head, "You don't seem like you're joking. But what do you mean by magic?"

KID hummed thoughtfully, what was the best way to describe it? "She can manipulate things. From someone's heart to the air around her. Her limits are questionable, unfortunately. She'll probably just tease us. I don't know the reason, but some of her magic doesn't seem to affect me, most of those have to do with love. Just do what I do around her and we'll be fine."

"She sounds interesting." Conan said.

"More like annoying." KID corrected, which Conan found more amusing. Conan was about to sit on the floor, when he remembered something. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a solid gold chain.

"I haven't had a chance to check it yet, but I got this today." Conan held up the necklace in front of him.

KID sat down in front of him, admiring the gem, "Oooh, not bad, Chibikaitou."

"Hey, I didn't steal it." Conan scowled, the new nickname not quite bugging him as much as he'd like to admit. The thief who called him a thief happened to be a very honorable one, it almost felt like an endearment. "I'm going to return it tomorrow, anyway." He sat down too, setting the gem in between them so that KID could have a better look.

KID picked it up, admiring it from different angles. After he was done, he handed it back. Conan pocketed it. "What else do you normally do to prepare for a heist, anyway?"

"Well, we still have to wait for the police to decide on their security measures. We can check those out the day of the heist, and alter our plans accordingly." KID stated, before breaking out into a wide grin, "For now we can start planning the magic act."

Conan's eyes lit up in interest. "What are you thinking of doing?"

KID put his hands on his shoes, happy that Conan was enthusiastic about it. "The heist is happening at 10PM, so it will be dark. Some of the audience will be in the tower, but most of the guests will be at the bottom, around it. So something bright or easy to see from afar would probably be best. The question now is, what do you want to see?"

"What do I want to see? What do you mean?" Conan asked.

"What would you want to see if you were in the audience? It can be anything." KID clarified.

Conan frowned, "I don't know, but I think the audience would like any of your tricks."

KID looked Conan directly in his eyes. "Forget about the tricks. Close your eyes. Relax." Conan complied. "Think about the most magical experiences you've ever had, or thought of. Add movement, lights, color, watch it play out. Think mystical. Think happy. Take your time."

Conan sighed, deciding to try. The first thing that popped into his mind was Sherlock Holmes. As a child, reading about the adventures, cases, and overall amazing mind that was Holmes—had felt magical. The memories of wasting away hours and hours reading them, hidden away in this very library, he looked upon very fondly. The Night Baron gave off a similar appeal, he often found himself reading those books secretly. Whenever his dad caught him reading his series, he would smile with pride, and the younger Kudo would stuff the book away, embarrassed. When he wasn't reading, he and Ran used to run around the secret passage ways of the manor. Often, he would find himself wanting to read a new book. But sometimes he would look over and see Ran smiling so brightly that he just couldn't look away. Back when his parents still stuck around they did all sorts of goofy things. His dad would tell stories to them, his mom would act things out. The nostalgia hit hard, and he immediately regretted getting sucked into the memories.

He tried to switch his train of thought. Something magical. His mind went somewhere darker, thinking about something that he had been thinking about constantly. This was the first time in over a year that two days had gone by without a case. If that wasn't magical, he didn't know what was. He knew this wasn't quite what KID had in mind, but he couldn't help thinking about it. Why was there so much death around him? Why did the death seem to stop when he was near KID? It didn't make sense. This was the longest break he'd had from a case in over a year, and no matter how illogical it was, he knew that as soon as he stopped meeting up with KID, the cases would start again. This wasn't happy, so he forced himself to stop thinking about it.

Conan opened his eyes, looking straight at the thief in front of him. KID smiled at him and he closed his eyes again. Mystical. Happy. Doves, flowers, KID… He thought back to all the heists he's been to. The tricks that had amazed him so thoroughly. Appearing out of nowhere, teleporting, the flower sparklers, walking on air. He chuckled at the memory of KID mistaking Sera for a boy and stealing her clothes. It was easy to imagine KID doing impossible things. He could imagine him flying, walking on water, turning into a bird. He watched the KID in his mind swoop down into the audience, pulling himself out of a hat. Lights shone around him, and he seemed to dance on fireworks as they would burst. The huge grin on his face getting larger and larger as he soared through the air. The people below KID looking on with as much wonder as Conan felt. He opened his eyes again, and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well?" KID prompted.

"I-I don't think I'm very good at this." Conan mumbled. "How about fireworks?"

KID's brow rose, "Fireworks? That sounds kind of plain. You can say anything you know, I'll find a way to make it work. Like if you wanted to see a dragon, or gravity reversed."

Conan thought for a bit. "…Lots of fireworks?" KID laughed at his uncertainty.

"Sure! Any theme in mind?" The magician took out his phone, typing something.

Conan tried to think of something happy, or grand. Tropical Land came to his mind and he had to block out the thoughts of decapitation, exploding watches, and gunshots that he associated with the place. "Maybe an amusement park?"

"An amusement park, huh?" KID put a hand to his chin, "Yeah, I think that could work."

"What do you usually think of?" Conan prompted, curious about the inspiration behind KID's normal tricks.

"Hmmm. I think of puppies and double chocolate ice cream. I think of the task force turning into pigs. Sometimes I imagine being in a world full of magic, where it's more unusual to follow the laws of physics and gravity than to not." KID smiled brightly, "Whenever I'm really stumped though, I think of my dad."

Conan blinked, "You mean the original Kaitou KID?"

"H-huh?" KID shifted, suddenly on alert, "What makes you say that?"

The shift in atmosphere didn't go unnoticed. Conan took this as confirmation and decided to share his deductions with confidence. "Well KID started stealing things about 20 years ago right?"

KID nodded, not liking where this was going, but having already put his poker face back in place. Conan continued, "Let's say that the original KID was your dad. 19-20 years ago, he starts stealing, has you within a year or two, and taught you magic. 8-10 years ago, he died, or sustained an injury that made it impossible for him to continue being KID. That would also line up with what you said about becoming KID to avenge your dad. Then 2-3 years ago, you found out about your dad being KID and decided to follow in his footsteps."

"If he is my dad, what makes you think he had me after being KID?" KID asked, not wanting to let him know that his deduction was completely on point. "I mean, the timing seems oddly specific."

Conan pushed his glasses up, making them shine with the promise of a solved case. "Well there's also the fact that you are still in high school. The way the heists are planned caters around the schedule of someone in school, not only that but your body is that of a 17-18 year old."

KID blinked, "Woah, hold on. I'm a master of disguise, you can't really guarantee anything by how I look."

"If you consider yourself a master of disguise, then I'm a master of deduction." Conan stated, not batting an eye. "You've disguised yourself as Shinichi-niichan a few times, at least one of the times, you were checked for a disguise. That can only mean that you look just like him. It would also explain why you use him so often when you're in a hurry."

"Okay, your deductions do seem to make a lot of sense, but you can't be sure those were me, right? Couldn't they have really been that detective?" KID asked, worried that he might have been being too careless.

' _Idiot, of course that wasn't him, I'm Kudo Shinichi.'_ Conan shook his head. "But some of the times you pretended to be him were times when it would be impossible for him to be there."

KID sighed, "You know, if you keep deducing things like that, we might not be able to hang out anymore."

"So if I keep my theories to myself, will you still come over? Even after the heist?" Conan asked earnestly.

The magician quirked a brow. "Only if you don't mind me showing you stolen goods in your house."

Conan was silent. Looking back at the thief in front of him, maybe he should tell him. About how whenever he's near, people don't die. That while he didn't know how, the thief's mere existence seemed able to save lives. Of course, that sounded utterly ridiculous so he kept the thoughts to himself. "I don't mind."

"Then I might just keep visiting." KID looked curiously at the boy in front of him. Normally he'd make a jab at him to stop stealing, even if he wasn't all that serious. He wondered what he was thinking about.

Deciding to change the subject for now, Conan went back to the topic of the heist at hand. "Is there anything else we can work on right now? For the heist?"

"Not really." KID said, "Honestly whatever we come up with now might end up being useless depending on how they decide to guard the earrings. I can work on the fireworks, but we have to wait for the day of the heist to decide anything else."

"I see." Conan frowned.

KID didn't understand why Conan was so down. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Conan repeated, sighing. He was tempted to ask KID to come back tomorrow, but not only was Subaru coming back then, he also didn't have a reason to. It was also still possible that his theory about the magician's presence in relation to cases was wrong. "I guess I'll see you Saturday then?"

"Yeah, I'll scope out the place during the day, and I can come pick you up around 9PM. We can go through basic scenarios and changes of plans then." KID said, getting up.

"Wait." Conan got up as well, taking off his cape, shirt and pants. He handed the thief uniform back to KID. "It'd be safer if you held unto this."

KID nodded, taking it from him. "See you." Conan held up a hand in in parting, silently wishing him good luck with his stake out.

That night Conan looked at the topaz in the moonlight. It stayed yellow, making him feel slightly disappointed that it wasn't Pandora. Not that he had really expected it to be, but it would have been a nice surprise.

* * *

The next day, a case showed up and Conan found himself wishing that he had asked KID to visit again after all. The next night another happened. Conan felt sick. The next, another case. The next day, another case. Conan was extremely relieved when Saturday finally rolled around. He stayed in his room until it started to get late, and told Ran that he was going to spend the night at the Professor's house. After going over, he left his overnight stuff and told them to cover for him if anyone checked in before he got back. The Professor happily agreed while Haibara scolded him for lying to Ran again. He had finally gotten her to agree that it was best to not tell Ran about him since it had already been so long. The Black Organization was still on the loose and with them having been kids so long, their covers were pretty strong. That could change if people started to find out about their real identities, even people as close to them as Ran and the Detective Boys.

Conan leaned against the side of the Professor's house. They didn't really say a specific place to meet, but Conan knew that KID would find him easily. It was around 9PM now and Conan felt uncomfortable not having a watch to glance at. He left his glasses and watch inside since they would be suspicious if found at the Tower. He had also left his bowtie, having the Professor make a small voice-changing tie instead. Just in case. He was still wearing his suspenders and belt, they wouldn't be seen from under his outfit and were very useful in a pinch.

A rustle from his side alerted him to the thief's presence. He let out a small laugh when he saw Sonoko smacking a branch out of her face.

"Ne, Sonoko-neechan, you look nice today!" Conan laughed at KID's disguise. He was wearing a yellow spaghetti strap crop top and a short skirt.

"Thank you for noticing." KID used his hand to brush the hair away from his face. "Though coming from a brat like you it doesn't really mean much." He sighed wistfully, putting his hands together as if in a mock prayer. "Ahhh, if only KID-sama would say that to me, then I would dump my current boyfriend in an instant."

Conan smirked, "Narcissist." While the impression of Sonoko was good, he knew that real Sonoko would never say that about Makoto. Especially now that they were engaged. Makoto had always been straightforward about his feelings towards her, and he was proud of Sonoko for focusing on him rather than other boys. She had even started rooting for Makoto during KID and Makoto's occasional face offs. Sonoko still fan-girled when it came to KID though.

"What can I say? I'm fabulous." KID grinned back, making Conan snort at his playful vanity. KID took his hand, guiding him down to a car in an alleyway at another street.

"It's weird seeing you without your glasses." KID mentioned, "It seriously makes you look like a small me."

Conan rolled his eyes, _'More like you look like regular-sized me.'_ He copied the thief's tone,"It's weird seeing you in a skirt. It makes you look like you don't have a-"

"Ahhh!" KID put his hand over his mouth, hastily cutting him off. "You have some mouth, you know that?"

Conan smirked at his reaction and KID removed his hand to open the back door of the car in front of them. "Ladies first." KID said merrily. Conan quirked a brow at him when the thief went in before him. He knew that KID took the police lightly, but to be goofing around right before a heist like this? KID found entertainment in anything. Conan shook his head in amusement before getting in after him, noticing the silhouette in the front seat, but politely not looking into him. There was a shaded window in-between the front and back of the car, Conan respected the privacy they wanted. He also appreciated that KID had sat in the back with him, instead of leaving him alone in the back.

"He-" KID jabbed a finger in the driver's direction, "-is going to be taking care of the power for the elevators and setting off the fireworks. He also was very against the idea of bringing you along today, but I managed to convince him."

The guy in front started the car, sighing. "Young Master…did you really need to tell him that?" He sounded used to dealing with KID's foolish whims, making Conan feel for the guy. He drove out of the alley, they started heading in the general direction of Bell Tower. Conan felt nervous about actually being a part of this.

KID laughed in response, making it clear that, yes, he did need to tell him that. The laughter implying that his partner was such a silly guy for asking. The way KID was having fun made him feel better about things. KID noticed him staring and turned to him. "So how was the necklace?"

"It was just a regular topaz. Big and worth a lot, but not anything special aside from the density and size of it." Conan sighed.

"Bummer." KID said, before adding. "I don't really feel like the Death Harbingers will be Pandora either, but it's still good to check."

"You even told him about Pandora? Please, Young Master, do at least try to be more careful." The man in the front reprimanded. Conan apologized silently to him.

"Hey, he's trying to help, besides, I still owe him for helping me and letting me go." KID defended. Conan wondered what his partner would think about the fact that the thief agreed to share with him his first name. He wasn't about to be the one to mention it.

Conan shook his head, "That was something I did by myself. You don't owe me."

"This is where we agree to disagree then." KID said. He always returned favors, it was kind of his thing. "By the way, I saw you in the news the other day."

Conan tilted his head, "Really?"

"Yeah, Ryotaro Kashima's case. You and your friends were on the security footage, checking for clues. They said that it was really thanks to you kids that they found the criminal in the first place. The little Yoshida girl was going on about how you were the one who figured out that the murder weapon was a block of ice! You really know how to find the crazy ones." KID ruffled his hair affectionately.

Conan pushed the hand off, grumbling, "More like they know how to find me."

KID looked at him curiously, thinking the way he phrased that was strange. As they approached the tower, KID got some stuff out of a compartment below them. He handed Conan his little white suit, cape, hat and monocle. He put his own on with a snap of his fingers, making Conan slightly jealous that he could do that so fast. Conan put on his pants and shoes and was about to put on his shirt when KID held something out to him. It was a small bullet proof vest. KID put it on him for him, "Just in case. I wouldn't want you to get hurt at something I invited you to."

Conan nodded, putting on the rest of his costume. "What's the security look like?"

"It's just the task force so it should be beyond easy tonight." KID laughed. "It didn't seem like they were planning to use helicopters, either. They really never learn."

When they arrived at the tower, it was already packed with people. KID and Conan snuck into an opening that KID had cut out of the glass earlier that day. The opening was on the third floor, which was easy to sneak into from a nearby building. From there, they got in an elevator and shut the doors, pressing the button for the floor 2 floors from the top, and going through the top of the elevator, catching a ride from above. They did it that way so that even if someone got on the elevator, they wouldn't see them. Also, if someone tried to go to the top floor, they would still be safe since it would have to stop before they smacked into the top.

"This is actually terrifying." Conan whispered under his breath as the elevator quickly rose.

KID chuckled, "I'd say thrilling fits better." The elevator slowed to a stop about halfway up, making them stop their conversation so as to not get caught. The listened to a few passengers getting on, before it headed up again. They could hear Nakamori in it and Conan felt his heart hammering at the proximity. When the elevator stopped 2 floors from the observation deck, they could hear Nakamori complaining loudly, "Which one of you idiots hit the wrong floor number?!" KID chuckled silently, cutting through the outer glass. He reached out, shooting his grappling gun at the top of the tower. Once he insured the grip would hold, he picked Conan up with his other arm, and swung out moments before the elevator started up again.

Conan's breath hitched, looking down at the crowd below them, so far down that they looked similar to ants. They swung out a little ways before gravity and the thick wire from the grappler combined to send them safely back to the side of the tower. KID pressed the safety mechanism on his gun, making it pull them up slowly. It reminded Conan of his suspenders.

Once they were at the top, they looked down at the audience. KID whistled at how big the crowd was tonight. "Ready to start the performance?"

"Considering that I'm not a magician, and that I don't really know anything about the tricks set up tonight, I'm going to go with no." Conan said. KID hooked a white harness to Conan, almost invisible in contrast with the dark sky around them. It blended in with the pure white of his costume.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. If at any time you feel unsafe, just press the button on the right side. It'll make the harness eat at the wires until we're touching. If for some reason we have to split up, press both of the buttons on the left, it'll cut the wires." KID started setting up a blow up KID dummy on the other side of the roof. The wind wasn't bad tonight, but the high attitude still made Conan feel uneasy. Conan gulped, seriously hoping that KID wasn't planning for to do what he thought he was going to do with the harness. They were too high!

He followed KID as KID started setting up what looked like a projector and speakers, probably so that everyone could hear and see his entrance. He then synced them with a black smartphone, before he twisted a black malleable cord of some sort from it to his belt. Once positioned, it stayed above him. Conan looked at it in interest, knowing that the phone couldn't be his personal one, "So how are we going to get the earrings, anyway?"

KID turned to him, finishing the set up. "They're in a glass case in the center of the observation deck right now, I was thinking we just smash it and run." Conan probably would have laughed if he wasn't going to be part of the thievery.

"It's show time." KID said, pointing at the phone's time, 9:59PM. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be, I guess…" Conan sighed, "Just…just warn me if we're going to jump."

He set the phone to start recording at 10PM on the dot and smiled as the projector showed his image in the sky behind them. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" he said loudly, Conan noticed that KID was purposely keeping him out of the shot right now. "Thank you so much for coming, I hope you will find the show tonight amusing." Conan could hear the crowd screeching from here. "I have a special guest tonight, I'd like to introduce you all to KID Jr.!" He shifted so that Conan was right in the center of the shot, his face mostly hidden, but quite obviously a child. The crowd yelled loudly, and Conan wondered how Nakamori was taking this in. He glanced behind him at his projection, not liking being the center of attention for such a large crowd. Not that he really had to worry about some random Black Organization member seeing a silhouetted child and thinking to themselves 'That's Kudo Shinichi, isn't it? So he really isn't dead after all!', but he still felt the very real fear of being found out someday.

"This is his first show, so I hope you all treat him kindly!" KID grinned brightly. "And without any further ado, let the show begin!" He bent down, scooping Conan up, "We're going to jump!" As he said that, explosions shot up. Conan screamed when they actually jumped, he hadn't meant to. His cheeks would have been flushed if his stomach wasn't dropping. Just behind them, fireworks exploded, but the way the camera was angled made it looked like they exploded right below them. Conan looked at the projector in shock. The fireworks looked like seats on a roller coaster, they went around in sync with KID and him spinning around the tower. It looked like they were actually on a lit up ride.

They could see the task force glaring at them through the observation room glass. KID grinned after they went around the tower for the fifth time. He reached for the phone and had it stop recording, immediately tapping loop. The projector seamlessly went from recording to replaying the video, making it seem as if they were still riding the firework coaster. The fireworks continued going off, and KID yanked the phone off its holder as he used another grappling gun to take them closer to the tower. Conan kind of felt like kicking him for not giving him more warning about the jump. But was pretty impressed with how the affects turned out so he kept his feet to himself.

Once they were just above the deck, they could see the task force all at the windows. Nakamori was yelling for them to go catch them, but the force was lost as to how to do that when they were in the sky around the tower. KID shared a look of amusement with Conan. He then quietly opened up the trap door on the roof, lowering down, unheard because of the loud fireworks outside. Conan was almost impressed that the force was so absorbed in the illusion of them being just outside that not a single one turned around to see as the two of them approached the glass case.

"Press the right button 15 seconds after I smash the case." KID whispered to Conan. Conan nodded.

KID smashed the case loudly, taking the two earrings into his hand. Nakamori turned around, "Wait, YOU-! WHY WASN'T ANYONE WATCHING THE CASE?!" He yelled as they ran toward him.

KID smirked, "Now you really shouldn't be blaming anyone other than yourself, Inspector. They were just trying to catch me like you said." He lifted his hand to show that he had the earrings, "And now that We've gotten the jewels, we really should be going now." KID released smoke bombs, as he shot his gun into the ceiling. Conan pressed the button right then, and they stayed at the top, hidden by the rising smoke.

The projector outside stopped, setting off the dummy to fill with air and fly away. "I-Inspector! KID's getting away!" One of the task force members yelled, pointing at the dummy.

"Wait, arrrgh dammit!" Nakamori yelled. "Don't just stand here, catch him! Everyone, get down to the first floor, we'll chase him by car!"

"But Inspector, the elevators aren't working!" A task member yelled.

"What?!" Nakamori turned behind to open an elevator while the other members checked the other ones. His opened up but none of the others were working. "Nine of you, get in here, the rest of you take the stairs!" He bellowed, before quickly adding, "And don't dawdle!"

Conan couldn't believe how idiotic he was.

"Do you want to press the buttons?" KID asked quietly. Conan blinked at him, the elevator buttons? He could… It would add to the illusion that KID really _had_ gotten away, and that only 'KID Jr.' was still here. He nodded, changing the settings on his tie to Nakamori's voice. KID let him down quickly, still hidden by the smoke. Conan ran forward into the elevator, pressing the buttons.

The task members reached to grab at him and he bellowed into his tie, "Stop it you imbeciles! This is just a dummy KID Jr, the real KID and KID Jr are getting away, follow them!" He felt a little bad for Nakamori. He pressed the right button to make him go back to KID quickly as the door closed.

"Wait, you imbeciles! That wasn't me! OPEN THE DOOR!" Nakamori yelled.

"But inspector, the floor buttons have all been pressed! We can't!"

When Conan got back to where KID was, KID smiled at him, impressed. They then went through the top latch, and KID grabbed his first gun that was still hanging there, he pressed the safety to pull them to the top again. Once they were at the top KID looked around, looking for the best direction to go. He turned to Conan, "So how'd you like it?"

"It was okay." Conan said, mentally preparing himself for the jump that was going to take place. "It was really fast, everything felt like it happened at once."

"Just okay?" KID prompted.

Conan grinned as KID grabbed him, jumping off the top, hang glider opening up. "If I wasn't so scared the whole time, it might have been better. I still think that this kind of work is better suited to you though. I feel like I held you back today."

KID tilted his glider, knowing that people could see them but also knowing that the police wouldn't be able to reach them before they landed. "I wouldn't say held back, believe me, I was a _lot_ worse my first heist. You did great."

Conan couldn't tell if he was trying to cheer him up, or honestly didn't think he did a bad job. It was great seeing behind the tricks as they happened, but Conan felt that if he could go back, he would have rather helped KID in other ways.

Conan noticed KID still suddenly, he whispered under his breath, "That acquaintance of mine that I was talking about…She's here." Conan looked around, shocked when he saw someone approaching them, seemingly ignoring the wind and flying through it.

She caught up to them almost immediately and motioned for them to land. KID sighed, tilting his glider down so that it arced and landed smoothly upon a roof. The sorcerous followed in suit and Conan watched her land gracefully with no sign of a glider or propeller of any sort.

"We need to talk." She stated, tone leaving no room for argument.  
 **  
**

* * *

 **Once again, thank you all so much for reading and for all the feedback. This chapter was also a pretty long one. There's a lot of plot points that I've been introducing pretty fast. It should calm down soon though. I also want to apologize in advance for the next chapter. It might be a little dark.**


	3. Hugs Help

**Thank you so much for reading! I don't know what else to say right now, I'm just feeling a lot of feels so I'll just let you go on and read the chapter for yourselves.**

 **Warning: Attempted suicide...**

* * *

KID unconsciously put a hand in front of the boy beside him, partially shielding him from the girl. "Is there anyway we can talk another time? As you can see, I have a guest tonight."

Akako shook her head, looking at him sternly. "It's precisely because of that guest that we must talk now."

"What do you mean?" Conan piped up from behind him, curious about the girl who could glide through the air. KID hadn't wanted to get Conan involved with her if possible, not with her questionable alliances, dangerous games, and lack of concern for those affected by her incantations. Still, she had helped out more than interfered recently, he supposed they could at least hear her out. Especially since she was the kind of person who would pettily use magic as a way to get back at them for ignoring her.

"There's an aura of death surrounding you. A powerful and practically unbreakable curse." She stated, cutting right to the chase.

KID glanced at the earrings, "You mean Death's Harbringers? Their curse is real?"

"No." Akako quirked a brow at him. "The curse I'm referring to is that which surrounds the boy by your side."

"What do you mean?" KID asked. He didn't notice Conan still at her words, or how he was gripping as his shirt collar as if it was choking him. He didn't see as Conan's eyes were widening with dread, or how he was leaning in to hear every word since the curse was first mentioned. Because he didn't notice this, he didn't think much of the sorceress's words.

Akako steeled her gaze, "I noticed it a few months ago, you know." She continued at KID's silence. "There was suddenly a dark shadow attached to you. I didn't think much of it at the time since it would always disappear as soon as it came. This last week, however, has been different." She threw her hand down as if she was personally offended by the change. "At the start of the week, the pure white aura that normally surrounds you had a friend. The dark aura was back. The next day, instead of disappearing, it had gotten bigger. The next day it hadn't gotten bigger, but neither had it shrank. Finally, it calmed down, and dispersed completely."

KID stared at her, thoroughly confused. She lowered her gaze. "You were meeting with him." She was right, but KID still didn't understand what that had to do with any of this. There was no way someone would curse a child. What would be the point? He didn't think that Conan had done anything to offend someone so greatly.

"Maybe I was." Kid responded, "But you don't even see me aside from heists, there's no reason for me to believe you after all the tricks you've pulled."

Akako sneered at his pitiful attempt to deny that she knew his real identity. "Even if I didn't see you at school everyday, just being here right now I can see plenty. The curse that follows the boy is that of never-ending death, for as long as he lives, death shall surround him. You have magic of your own surrounding you. It's fighting his curse as we speak. The two forces are of equal strength, as long as you're around him, his curse is at bay."

KID shook his head, "But that's impossible, I'm not a real magic user."

"Believe what you must, at least the boy seems to believe in my words." Akako said. Once she had addressed Conan, KID realized that he hadn't said anything for some time now. He looked behind him, only to see something that made him wish that he had never brought him here tonight. The small detective was trembling, horror dawning his features. He was petrified. Suddenly KID found himself not doubting her words anymore. The boy had been saying he was tired of all the cases, and when he had first mentioned magic to him, he hadn't really questioned it because of something that had been happening around him. Not only that, but Conan's earlier words about the crazy ones finding him instead of the other way around flashed into his mind.

KID looked back at Akako, no longer denying its existence, "…How do we stop it?"

Akako let out a small breath, demeanor changing from that of a rival to that of a parent seeing that her children were finally ready to listen to reason. "I'm sorry, that I do not know. The curse he is afflicted with is a mixture of black, red and white magic. It's far too strong to be broken by natural cause. The only thing you can do currently, is stay by him. Lest he become a danger to those closest to him. Whether you trust me or not, I really only came here to talk tonight because I was worried for you. I hope you at least acknowledge my warnings."

That wasn't the answer he had wanted to hear. She took off silently into the night, and he crouched down to the boy beside him. Just as he was about to say something, he noticed a splash of blood drip onto the roof below him. He followed it to see Conan biting his lip so tightly that it was bleeding.

"H-hey…" KID said, suddenly on alert, he wiped the blood away with his thumb, not caring about the red stain that would be left behind on the white glove. "Are you okay?" _'Idiot.'_ He reprimanded himself. Did he look okay? Of course not.

Conan gulped, taking a deep breath. He steeled himself, "I'm fine, KID." KID had never heard such a clearly stated lie in his life.

"I-I can't go home. I can't let anything-If Ran and the others-" Conan started, breath hitching, unable to even finish the sentence. The desolate ring pained KID's ears.

KID put his hand on his shoulder. "For now, we know there's at least one thing that can counter it right? If we stick together nothing should happen." KID didn't really know how to phrase what he had to say next. He was only good at cheering people up with magic tricks, he wasn't prepared for curses. At Conan's blank look, KID realized that he might still think that he has to deal with the curse by himself. "I have a pretty big house, and my mom's always gone anyway, until we get all of this sorted out, you could stay with me. If you want. I mean, it might seem suspicious if you suddenly moved in with me to others, but me getting caught means nothing in comparison to keeping others from getting hurt." Even if he would be hated by Aoko…

Conan's shoulders slouched a bit, and he looked right at KID. "…I'm probably going to have to take you up on that offer." KID smiled, showing him that it was okay.

Conan got out his phone and KID looked curiously at him. "I need to call my parents, they can help."

"Really?" He didn't know what exactly Conan meant by that, how could his parents help in a situation like this? Then again, he knew Conan would have to tell someone that he couldn't go back to his old house right now. Even if it would make more sense to KID if he called the Mouris.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about this, but…" Conan looked up at him apologetically, "I might need more than just your first name."

KID nodded, "And I'm sorry that I had to tell you like this. My full name is Kuroba Kaito, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Conan opened his mouth, looking up him, his eyes widened and KID could see the shine of moisture in his eyes.

Conan turned around, dialing a number. As the phone rang, everything seemed more and more real to him. KID had just told him his identity. That was probably the part of the night that stuck out the most. He was really here, on a roof, after a heist, calling his mom—because what he had previously thought was just his paranoia had been _real_. He felt sick, and he had to put a hand to his mouth at the sudden nausea he felt. The line clicked.

"Hey mom…?" KID walked away, giving him space and privacy.

"What is it, Shin-chan?" She asked, catching the sadness in his voice. "It's almost midnight in Japan right now, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's, it's just...I…I need you to do something for me…" He gulped, explaining the very basics of the situation to his mom. He sat down on the roof, looking at the sky as he talked to her. It looked to KID like he was desperately trying to not cry. After a few minutes, Conan hung up, and KID went to sit next to him.

"So, how'd it go?" He asked.

Conan snorted, or what should have been a snort, but just sounded like cut off sobs. He sniffed. "I told her that I was going to live with Kuroba Kaito for a while, and that I needed her to come up with an excuse for it. I think she knows you, once she heard your name she was all for it. This should make others less suspicious at least."

KID blinked, he knew of Conan's parents, but he would have definitely remembered meeting them if he had. Maybe she was an old acquaintance of his parents? "She sounds like a great mom."

"...She really is." They could hear police sirens in the distance.

KID offered a hand to him, "Shall we get going then?" Conan nodded, taking it in his own smaller one. KID scooped him up and they flew down a few streets in silence. They landed and KID snapped his fingers, when he did Conan was back to his outfit underneath his costume, and KID was disguised once again as Sonoko. Conan followed him as he weaved quickly through the alleyways. He noticed a familiar car another street down and wasn't even remotely surprised when KID took him straight to it. They got in the back of the car, and Conan noticed that the earlier driver was in it as well.

"Change of plans." KID said as he closed the door. "We're going straight home."

"What?" The man in the front turned. "But Young Master, this is too careless! He might lead the police right to us."

"And he might not." KID responded. "It doesn't matter anyway, since I already told him who I am, let's just go already."

"A-ah…I-I see…" While Conan couldn't exactly say he was relieved when the man started driving, he really was appreciative that he didn't ask any more questions. He knew that KID and his partner probably felt that the silence on the way there was awkward, Conan didn't care. He needed quiet right now.

He leaned his head against the car door. This wasn't exactly how he had planned tonight to go at all. A curse… He didn't know how exactly the curse worked, but…He thought back to the cases he'd stumbled upon. To all of the seemingly impossible murders. To all of the ridiculous motives. The roller coaster decapitation. The karaoke box murder. The Sherlock Holmes fan group murders. Even the more recent ones, like the ice murder of Ryotaro Kashima…would any of them have happened if he hadn't been nearby?

KID looked sadly at the kid beside him. KID knew that Conan had a lot to think about and he didn't look like he was exactly in the mood to talk. He didn't really know what he could say to him right now anyway, so maybe it was a good thing that he didn't want to talk. He wanted to cheer him up by talking about how fun it would be living together, or how they could plan another heist, or how they could eat ice cream at anytime of the day. How he had a great friend who always cooked breakfast for him and would probably be excited to have someone new at the breakfast table. How they could always visit his friends, and how now that they knew about the curse, they could work together to find a permanent solution. He wished he could say anything to get the pained look off of his face, but he was more afraid of saying the wrong thing right now, so he kept silent. He had no idea what was going through his mind right now. Was it that he was going to be missing his old home? Or maybe he felt guilty about the curse? KID really hoped the latter wasn't it, it wasn't his fault he was cursed! Well, probably not. KID didn't know how curses worked. And if it _was_ his fault, KID could still never blame him. Even if the people that had been directly affected would disagree. KID huffed, scratching at his wig in frustration.

As they pulled up to his street, Jii stopped the car and let them out. KID motioned for Conan to follow him down the street, through the shadows. Once they got in his house, he went upstairs, Conan followed him. He turned on his room light and went to the bathroom to change out of his disguise and get ready for bed. When he came out he found Conan looking uninterestedly around the room. As if he knew he _should_ be interested and that he had been really curious _before_ , but as of right now he just didn't care. Kaito frowned.

"I don't have a futon or anything, but you can have the bed." Kaito stated, "We can go buy a futon and other necessities for you tomorrow." Conan looked up at his voice, the disinterest of before disappearing as he laid his eyes on Kaito's undisguised face. He nodded, staring directly at him. Conan seemed kind of out of it, but Kaito still felt a little nervous at the intense look. "W-What is it?"

Conan shook his head, "Thank you."

"No problem…" Kaito smiled lightly, before turning off the room's lights. "If you need anything, just ask okay? I know it was a really sudden move, if you want to visit Mouri-san and get your old stuff back, I wouldn't mind at all."

Conan sat silently on the bed as Kaito got a blanket and pillow and left the room. "Goodnight, Meitantei."

"Ah…" Conan looked up at the sound of the familiar nickname, "Goodnight…"

* * *

Kaito woke up to the sound of sniffling. It took him a moment to register just what was making the sound, before memories of last night returned. It was still dark out—it had only been a few hours since he had went to sleep. He got up off of the couch in favor of heading up the stairs, to check in on his new roommate.

When he got near the room, the sniffling quieted, and he knew that Conan had heard him approaching. He knocked on the door lightly, before opening it. Conan was sitting on the bed, wrapped up in blankets. He was trying to stifle his sobs and Kaito's heart clenched at the tragic display before him. He hadn't ever seen Conan like this before. He always seemed so strong willed, indestructible, but it turned out he really was a human underneath after all. Had he even fallen asleep yet? Or had he been so miserable that he had been up since they got here? He walked over to Conan, sitting on the bed next to him, not saying anything. He knew Conan would talk when he was ready.

After a few minutes, Conan did. "…Do you know how many cases I've solved?" Kaito didn't say anything. He had no idea, and knew it was a rhetorical question. "Thousands. I've solved _thousands_ of cases." Kaito stayed silent, honestly unable to tell if he was hyperbolizing or being serious. There was no way an 8 year old could have solved thousands of cases, on the other hand…he didn't doubt Conan's voice right now.

Conan bit his lip, opening the earlier wound. "Do you know how improbable it is to run into just one murder?" He didn't know, and he didn't know how to comfort him right now. He wrapped his hand around Conan's. The least he could do is be here for him, even if it was just to have someone to talk to.

He felt Conan's hand grip his back, tightly. "How many of those were my fault? How many of those would still have happened if I didn't exist?"

Kaito pulls him towards him by the hand, wrapping his other arm around him into a hug, he speaks up for the first time since entering the room. "I'm sorry, I can't answer that." Conan's sniffles turn into a loud sob.

"T- _Thousands_ …" His sobs turn borderline hysterical, all fronts put up caving around him. The thief next to him his only real grip on reality.

"Hey…" Kaito pats his head, "It's not you're fault." He rubs his back, "It's going to be okay." Conan's cries start to quiet, and Kaito feels like he might start crying himself. There was no reason that such an amazing detective deserved such a terrible curse to be placed on him. "It's okay." His hand wiped at the tears falling from Conan's eyes. "You're so strong." "I'm here now." He's never comforted a child like this, but when his dad had died, his mom had done this for him. He hoped his feelings would get through to him. That he was here for him, that he didn't want him to suffer anymore. That he could never blame him. He continues to whisper comforts to him like one would a crying toddler, and pretty soon Conan falls asleep, having run out of tears. Realizing that he's pretty much stuck there, and not really wanting to leave Conan by himself right now anyway, Kaito falls asleep next to him.

* * *

The next morning Kaito wakes up, this time remembering everything immediately. The sun's starting to peek through, and Kaito looks to his side noticing that Conan's not there anymore. He has a really bad feeling and quickly goes to search for him. He sees the bathroom light on and knocks on the door. No response. He knocks again. Nothing. _'He's not…he wouldn't…'_ Kaito opens the door in a panic, only to freeze at the scene in front of him. On a step stool in front of the sink, with a razor at his neck, stood Conan. He was shaking. Conan looks at the door, and in an instant KID grabs Conan's hand, the razor ripping through the skin on his own.

"Don't you _dare_ , what the hell are you doing?!" Kaito yelled.

Conan looked away, "It's all my fault, as long as I'm alive..."

The statement made Kaito want to murder whoever had cursed him. "How could you think it's your fault?! Out of all the people who could have been cursed, it was _you_. A detective smart enough to catch murders. Because it was you, do you know how many murders you prevented?" Kaito knew his voice was raising, but he didn't care. "Besides, we don't know how the curse works, killing yourself could just make it worse." This was so messed up, his hand tightened over the razor, blood dripping down from it.

Conan caught his eyes, "Well then, just what do you expect me to do?!"

"Akako said that when you're with me that the curse is at bay, we can figure a way out of this together. Until then, I'm here for you, so…please give me the same curtesy. Don't leave me without a word." Conan's grip on the razor falls slack, and Kaito brushes Conan's bangs to the side to see his face better. His eyes were swollen, red and puffy. His lower lip was bruised and cut from his biting. Kaito held him in a one armed hug, which Conan accepted. Kaito stepped away from it after a moment, washing the blade in the sink and putting it out of reach on the top shelf of the mirror cabinet.

"I'm sorry…I…I didn't mean to…I wasn't thinking."

"No." Kaito said flatly. …Had knowledge of the curse really hurt him that much…? He turned to the quiet voice behind him, he wanted to say it was okay, but this time he just couldn't bring himself to do it. What was he expecting him to do? Hide his body for him? Let him 'move in' with him only to mysteriously disappear? Let his friends think that he was still out there, waiting for the day they would get to see him again? Run away from the people who had already been affected by the curse? Had he been planning this since his offer? Did he just agree to move in with him because he didn't think that the famous Kaitou KID would care if he died? Did he really think so little of him? "You weren't."

Conan dropped his gaze to the magician's hand. He had it in a fist, but blood was seeping through, spilling onto the tiled floor. Conan reached into the cabinet to grab some cloth, gauze and peroxide that he had seen earlier. He grabbed Kaito's hand and put it under slowly running water, gently rinsing the majority of the blood off. He splashed the—unfortunately white—cloth with peroxide, dabbing it over Kaito's injury. Kaito watched him, letting him do as he pleased. It stung like mad, but the adrenaline of the earlier situation greatly dulled the pain. Kaito could see him examining all the little card nicks and scars on his hand. Conan pressed down for about a minute or two with the cloth, before removing it and wrapping the wound in gauze. He wrapped it snuggly, and Kaito found himself admiring the quick and precise work.

"It shouldn't need stitches, but it is deep enough that it'd greatly help to have it bandaged for a few days." Conan let go of the hand, having finished wrapping it up.

"You're crazy you know that?" Kaito said, causing Conan to look up at him curiously. Conan had called him insane earlier, but Kaito couldn't help but think that the word fit the child in front of him better. What kind of 8 year old tries to kill themselves in someone else's house? What kind of 8 year old knows how to bandage wounds? "Promise me you won't do anything like this again."

"I…" Conan hesitated, he shouldn't have been so rash today, but if he found out that the only way to stop the curse was for him to die… Then he knew that he would try again in a heartbeat. "I can't promise that."

Kaito sighed, placing his unhurt hand on Conan's head, ruffling his hair affectionately. "I thought you would say that. But you can at least promise to talk to me about it first, right?"

"…" Conan shied away from the contact, feeling unworthy. "Yeah, I promise."

Kaito smiled sadly, taking his hand back, "So what do you want to do today? We can visit your old house and get supplies, or we could play games, maybe eat ice cream, I can introduce you to my friends, I could show you some magic tricks, or we could go get breakfast, or…" Kaito hummed thoughtfully, "Or we could just hang out here. If you're not feeling up to anything, we don't have to do anything. If you want to talk about things, I'd be more than willing to listen as well."

The way Kaito was talking to him calmed him down further. Part of him wanted to tell KID that he didn't need to dote on him, but the other part found the careful attention comforting. If KID was willing to help him so much, he really should thank him by at least trying to look for a better solution. In the meantime…"Breakfast sounds nice, actually. I would do just about anything for a cup of coffee right about now."

"And let me guess, you drink it black, don't you?" Kaito chuckled in amusement, not at all surprised at the detective's confession.

"No." Conan shook his head, "I drink it with _lots_ of cream and sugar."

Kaito smiled widely, "Really, now? That's how I like it too." He got up, motioning for Conan to follow him as he headed to his room. "I still have some of the clothes I wore when I was little, if you want to, you can wear them."

"Okay." Conan nodded, watching as Kaito pulled out a box from the top of his closet. He set it down onto the floor and opened it, picking some of his favorite articles of clothing out for Conan to look through. Conan immediately picked up a black suit with a white tie, casually choosing the most uncomfortable looking outfit. He really did like formal wear, didn't he? Kaito smiled fondly at him. It was one of Kaito's favorite outfits too, but he preferred to wear softer fabrics on a daily basis, especially back then. The suit felt uncomfortable and felt difficult to breathe in when he was younger.

Kaito changed into the new day's clothes in his room while Conan changed in the bathroom. He himself was wearing a casual blue t-shirt and black cargo jeans. He went over to the bathroom cautiously, not making a sound. He trusted his favorite little detective, he really did. But, after what had just happened… it was just so terrifying that he felt like he had to be careful around leaving him alone.

"You know…" Conan said from in the bathroom, opening the door, making Kaito freeze at getting caught. Conan definitely knew why he had snuck over. Kaito was relieved that he didn't seem too bothered about it. "I think that the curse might also have to do with why I can sense your presence."

"Eh?" Kaito blinked, curious. He _had_ always seemed to know when he was around.

Conan clarified. "I mean, if you really do have the ability to put my curse at bay, then that would explain the strange atmosphere shift I always feel when you're nearby."

Kaito looked at him. The suit fit him perfectly, in fact, he wore it much better than Kaito himself did, it was probably the hair. He had also used some makeup to conceal the redness around his eyes, and Kaito wondered where exactly he learned how to do that. "I guess that makes sense. You look good, Tantei-kun."

"Thanks…" Conan scratched his cheek. The thief seemed to be sincere about the compliment, but for some reason Conan couldn't take it seriously. He found himself wishing that he had his old clothing and devices. He felt vulnerable without his glasses, watch and bowtie at this point. He was so used to wearing them after keeping them on for so long. He had been wearing them since just before he turned 7…no 17. He corrected himself. God it had been so long. He looked at Kaito, noticing that he didn't look bad himself. The shirt cut showed off his thin frame, and Conan found himself staring at him curiously. How had he made his arms skinnier earlier? When he had disguised as Sonoko, they were so small! Faces, he understood, outfits—well, that was a given, KID had voices down like a pro, adding weight was simple, but lowering his body mass? That was one thing he couldn't figure out. Maybe now he'd have the chance to ask him one day…

Kaito looked at his own arms curiously, "You don't have to stare you know, plenty of guys shave their arms!"

Conan rose a brow, eyes glistening with amusement, noticing that yes, Kaito's arms were indeed shaved. "Do you shave your legs too?"

"Of course!" Kaito beamed proudly. "Every night! You never know when you might need to wear a skirt in public." Conan put a hand to his mouth at his laugh. He thought that that was a very KID-like concern.

"That's the first time." Kaito put a hand to his chin.

Conan's laughter died and he tilted his head, "For what?"

Kaito smiled, answering him. "The first time you smiled since the heist yesterday. I'm glad."

"Oh…" Conan lowered his gaze, feeling on the spot, but also somewhat warm inside. "I guess it is." Of course KID would notice these things. He had always been very observant. Still, it was nice. He had also always been pretty open when it came to KID, even if he was still keeping his identity a secret. And KID was one of his favorite people to hang out with, even back when all their interactions were him trying to catch him. This living together thing might not be so bad at all. He did wonder how long Kaito—god it felt weird to know his name, would let him stay if they don't find a way to break the curse anytime soon. He knew that he cared about everyone's lives, and would do anything to prevent innocent people from getting hurt. Maybe a few years? Conan hoped that they would find the cure within the next few months. If this became a goal as seemingly impossible as getting his body back, he didn't know what he would do. Surely he couldn't rely on KID that long.

"Ready to go?" Kaito held his hand out for him, "I always eat at my neighbor's house, the only food I actually keep around the house is junk food and pigeon feed. Try not to call me KID while we're in public, I have enough people around me that are suspicious as it is."

Conan nodded, taking his hand, before smirking and saying in a childish voice. "Okay, I understand, KID! Make sure to only call you KID, especially in public, got it."

"Hey…" Kaito sighed, "I was being serious!"

"Yeah, I won't say anything about it." Conan said.

They left the house and Kaito tugged lightly at his hand. "Thanks." Conan stayed silent in response. He had had plenty of close calls between Hattori and his mom himself, he wasn't about to go accidentally spilling anyone else's secrets. He thought back to Subaru, Tooru, and Haibara, yeah, he could keep a secret pretty well. He frowned, thinking back to his friends. What would they all think if they knew that he had been the cause for all the death around them? How would they react…Well, they'd probably think he'd gone crazy. The scientists, agents, detectives, police officers and even the children would probably question him for believing in something like a curse.

They stopped in front of the door and Conan thought that Kaito was going to knock, but instead of knocking he just waltzed in. Conan heard a lock being picked, but he didn't see his hands do anything other than twist the knob, the showoff. "I'm home~!"

"Ah, Kaito!" He heard a voice coming from the direction of the kitchen. He followed as KID took off his shoes and headed towards the sound.

"You're here pretty early, Aoko was just about to go wake you up." The girl said, she sounded like a happy person, Conan could appreciate that in people.

Kaito put his arms behind his head lazily as they arrived at the kitchen. "Well, I had to come early enough so that you would know to make enough food. I brought a friend."

"Huh?" The girl blinked as Conan came into view. He blinked back, momentarily startled.

' _R-Ran…? No...'_ He smiled widely, "My name is Edogawa Conan, it's nice to meet you, miss!"

"A-ah, I'm Aoko Nakamori. It's nice to meet you too, Conan-kun." She bent down to smile at him, before looking up at Kaito. "I didn't know you were friends with the KID Killer, Kaito." Conan repeated the name is his head, _'Nakamori, huh?'_

Kaito shrugged, "Apparently we're relatives or something. Starting today, he's going to be living with me."

"Oh. You do kind of look alike, especially with him wearing your old suit and all…" She said thoughtfully before scowling at him, "You better not teach him any bad habits, Kaito! One of you's bad enough! Don't go around teaching him that KID's a hero or something."

"Ah, I would never!" Kaito held a hand to his heart in mock offense, "Besides, he dislikes KID just as much as the next guy! Probably even more, why else would he try to capture him so much? Isn't that right, Conan?" The name felt really weird to say. Maybe he should have gone with 'Edogawa' instead, or added a 'kun' to the end.

Conan nodded eagerly, "Yeah! KID's just a dumb thief who deserves to get caught!" _'Oi, Oi…I'm right here, you brat.'_ Conan grinned, lifting his arms up and spreading them out, "But Kaito-niichan's one of my favorite people in the whooole world!"

 _'Huh?'_ Kaito blushed, surprised. He didn't have to act that far. But… Kaito scratched his cheek happily, the way he had called him 'Kaito-niichan' was really cute. He felt like an adoring older brother right now.

"You think?" Aoko laughed, before elbowing Kaito cheekily, "Looks like you got a new fanboy, huh?"

"Hey! Stop that, Ahoko!" Kaito let out some streamers and appeared behind her, watching as she almost fell forward.

"Bakaito! What would you have done if I fell?!" She glared, puffing out her cheeks angrily.

"Hmmph." Kaito stuck his tongue out. "You would have deserved it."

Conan stared blankly at the scene playing out in front of him, part of his image of KID having been shattered. So maybe he could be a little mean when it came to teasing, everyone was like that. He just seemed so used to this that Conan found himself having to adjust the image in his imagination. KID was just a mask of course. He shouldn't be surprised that there was a person behind it.

"Are you okay, Aoko-neechan?" Conan whined worriedly, "Why are you two fighting? Is it something I did?" Conan looked down pretending to be sad. "I-I'll be good from now on, p-please don't fight."

Kaito was immediately at his side, he noticed Conan jump in surprise. He put a hand on his shoulder, and a hand under his chin, lifting up his face. He knew that Conan was acting, but he had to make sure that he was alright. He was relieved to see that he didn't look that hurt. "It's not your fault." He pulled him into a tight hug, "Nothing's your fault, idiot."

Conan stilled, this guy wasn't going to let him feel down even the slightest bit, was he? He tugged on his sleeves, before wrapping his small arms around Kaito's larger torso. _'I was just acting, idiot…'_ While he may have been acting moments before, he still felt a weight falling off his shoulders at the concern.

"Kaito…?" Aoko peered down beside them, not used to seeing Kaito show affection so readily. They let go of the embrace and Aoko's eyebrows furrowed together. "Why's he moving in with you again?"

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow, that way I can explain to everyone at once. It's kind of a touchy subject right now." Kaito said, but Conan knew that he was only saying that so that he could make sure that his story matched up with his mom's.

Aoko sighed, putting her hands on her hips, "If you say so…" She started to get out ingredients to cook with. Heating a skillet, she plopped some egg whites in a small bowl and mixed with milk. Conan watched curiously as she cooked, his gaze switching to Kaito as he began idly doing tricks with his cards. They were so at home with each other, it reminded Conan of his days with Ran. Way back when he and Ran would walk home together, teasing each other. She had moved ahead in school a year and Conan wondered if he would be able to move up with her or not…He had missed so many exams… He just missed being able to be with her, like he was back then. Well, it was like that recently with her too, in a sense. But with him as Conan, it had never been the same.

"Are you okay?" Kaito asked after he had stared for a while. Conan was starting to wish that he'd stop worrying about him already. This morning had been…well, he hadn't been thinking. It was over, he was fine now.

"Yeah." Conan sighed, "I'm fine now, really." Kaito hummed back in response, expertly sounding both believing and disbelieving at the same time. Conan looks up as Aoko sets down a cup of coffee…in front of Kaito. He, himself receives a cup of milk.

"Thanks, Aoko-neechan." Conan smiled, hiding his disappointment. No one he knew would give a child coffee, and she was being very considerate.

"Hehe." Aoko grinned at the thanks and set off to continue making breakfast.

Conan looked back at with milk with a sigh, looking longingly at the coffee in front of Kaito. Kaito notices him and laughs, winking at him. Conan quirks an eyebrow, looking at the drinks again, not understanding Kaito's actions. When he looked down he noticed that Kaito's cup now had milk in it, he quickly looked at his own cup, excited. It had coffee! Conan grabbed the cup, sipping it to test the temperature and flavor. It was perfect…! He took a big gulp, satisfying his long sought after dose of morning caffeine. It had been so long, it took all his effort to not just chug it then and there. His lip stung a little bit, the earlier cut still new, but oh, it was so _worth_ it.

He set the cup to the side, forcing himself to savor it instead of chug it. Kaito had his head resting on one hand, thoroughly amused at his antics. Conan blushed, looking away. He looked back at the sound of plates being set down. The plate in front of him had on it an omelet made of egg whites. He may have been young, but he felt that separating the egg yolks out might have been a bit much.

"Geez," Aoko put her hands on her hips looking at Kaito, "just what are you grinning like that for? It's creepy."

Kaito looked up at her, "Oh, I was just thinking about how dumb you—" Kaito stopped suddenly, having been about to say something mean to her, he quickly glanced back at Conan before scratching the back of his head. "—I mean, it's nothing, really."

"Ah!" She glared, "What were you about to say just now?! Stupid, Bakaito! Maybe I'll just eat your omelet for myself."

"You wouldn't want to do that, you'd get fat." Kaito said offhandedly, the rude sarcasm coming naturally and he immediately regretted saying anything.

Aoko was practically seething at this point. "And just what does my weight have to do with this?!"

"Ah, um!" Conan sat up, looking brightly at the two in front of him, interrupting them as best he could while smiling widely. "Thanks for the food!" He clapped his hands together before he started eating his omelet.

Aoko and Kaito turned to look at him and Aoko smiled at his reactions. "It's good isn't it? Just be careful not to burn yourself."

Conan swallowed before answering, "Yeah, it's delicious!"

She blushed, putting a hand to her cheek, "At least someone has some manners around here, you should learn from him, Kaito."

"Hmph, whatever." Kaito put his hands together, muttering an obligatory, "Thanks for the food." Before eating himself. Aoko joined them with her own omelet.

She sighed, "I wish dad would sleep some more instead of chasing after KID so much."

Conan perked an ear at the mention of KID. Kaito frowned, "Well it can't be helped, can it? I mean KID just had a heist last night, not only that but there was a new brat by his side. The old man's probably blowing a casket trying to find them." Conan found the topic of conversation utterly bizarre. It was not dissimilar to his own breakfasts at the Mouris, when Shinichi's name would be casually mentioned. Of course, they didn't really talk about him that often anymore…Since he'd been gone for over a year now.

"Yeah, but he could at least stay long enough to have some breakfast." Aoko complained, "He didn't even get to meet Conan-kun."

"We've already met!" Conan joined in, having all the clues to properly identify her dad, "Inspector Nakamori, right? Kaito-niichan told me that we were going to his house. I met him at some of KID's heists, like the one with Ryoma's duplicated goods!" Kaito blinked at him, knowing for a fact that he never mentioned anything about the house they were going to.

Aoko chuckled, "He's mentioned you before too." She didn't say anything he had said about him though, since he had only ever complained about the little brat playing detective on his turf. Aoko scowled, "Just what does that KID think he's doing anyway, involving a child with his criminal activities! He's despicable."

"But don't you think that KID Jr was really cute? I think he adds points to KID's charm." Kaito said, making Conan feel self-conscious. Cute?

"You would." Aoko huffed, "But when KID jumped off the tower, he screamed! That child was probably traumatized and KID just laughed about it! I know you're a big fan of his, but how can you side with him on this?" Conan choked before hastily taking a drink of coffee to help the omelet go down. So people _had_ noticed him scream earlier, of course it _had_ been displayed on the projector. He felt pathetic…

"Ah, are you okay?" Aoko got a napkin, wiping the side of his cheek, "Don't try to eat it all at once, it's bad for your digestion."

Conan smiled, "'Kay!"

"You really are the cutest! Don't grow up to be like Kaito, okay?" Aoko smiled at him as he nodded, and she crossed her arms. "Honestly, someone who tries to catch bad guys like Conan-kun here is much cuter than someone whose helping them like KID Jr." She frowned. "Even if I do think that KID's just using him."

Kaito and Conan shared a nervous glance at the comparison. "Who do you think KID Jr. is anyway?" Kaito asked cautiously, "I mean, I always thought KID worked by himself."

Aoko shrugged, "Dad thinks that he's probably KID's son, and that he was just waiting until he was old enough before bringing him to a heist. He's looking into all 35-45 year old guys who have a child in elementary school right now."

"Sounds like a wild goose chase if you ask me, there are way too many suspects!" Kaito laughed, "Though that's probably the best he can do."

"Hey, don't insult my dad!" Aoko growled. "Maybe I really should have eaten your omelet." She smirked sadistically, "You know, there's this really big sale on fish today...Maybe I should cook fish tomorrow."

Kaito paled, "Hey, you wouldn't actually do that would you?" He gulped uncomfortably at her unchanged expression, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, okay? Really!"

Aoko flipped her hair back, "You better be." Conan finished his omelet and was regretfully done with his coffee as well. He looked at his wrist habitually to check the time, only to see the bare skin of his arm.

He looked up, seeing that Kaito was done too. "Hey, Kaito-niichan? Can we go get my stuff? I left all my toys and clothes…"

"Of course." Kaito smiled, getting up. "We should get going, thanks for the food, Aoko."

"Yeah, see you at dinner." She waved. "It was nice meeting you, Conan-kun."

Conan got out of his chair, walking up to Kaito. "It was nice meeting you too, Aoko-neechan, the food was really good!" Aoko smiled brightly, bringing the dishes to the sink to be washed. Kaito and Conan headed out of the house and once they were out of earshot, Kaito turned to Conan.

"Why do you act so childish around other people? I mean, what's the point in hiding your intelligence?" Kaito questioned, curious.

Conan sighed, "Well, it's unusual, isn't it? I'd rather not have people looking into me just because the things I say don't sound like they came from the mouth of an elementary school student. Besides, there are less questions this way, and it's easier for people to overlook me."

"Hmmmmm." Kaito considered his words. "I don't really think Aoko would care." He didn't push the matter. He was just trying to understand the boy beside him, wondering just how hard Conan's life must have been for him to find faking interactions as a useful tool. Then again, he couldn't realty say anything himself, since he also used the tool of pretending.

* * *

 **Okay, so wow, um…I had a lot of trouble with writing this chapter. I hope it wasn't too bad, and that Conan's feelings made sense. Keep in mind that Conan has been greatly affected by all of the cases around him at this point in his life, his actions were rash, but he's even expressed desire for the world to end because he was so tired of the cruelties surrounding him(Chapter 1). Once he found out that he might have been the reason for the cases, well, it tore him up inside. It wasn't his mind that made him consider ending his life, but rather his heart, and the misplaced guilt settling inside of it. The reason he was able to bounce back so fast was because it was more unnatural for him to be thinking about going through something so dark in the first place.** **I also hope him cheering up at the end made up for the beginning at least a little bit. Conan's someone that I can't really imagine staying down in the dumps for too long, especially when he has some kind of goal in mind.**


End file.
